


The End of the F×××ing Eddsworld

by TurboSoggy69



Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Angst, Attempt at Humor, Awkwardness, Blood and Gore, Canon Era, Canon-Typical Violence, Communism, Crime, Edd and Matt worry, Eduardo wants Jon to sell key rings, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Smut, Fights, First Kiss, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Jon guzzles milk, M/M, Mild Language, Mostly Edd, Norsk | Norwegian, Not quite Bottom Tom, Not quite top Tom, Poor Everyone, References to Depression, Romance, Rough Sex, Running Away, Sad, Secretly sentimental sex, Slow Burn, Smut, The End Never Happened, The end of the fxxxing eddsworld, They leave, This is sort of Tord's alternative to The End, Tom does not like Matt, Tom has depression, Top Tord, Tord tries to help sometimes, Triggers, Violence, We get really close to “major character death”, but calm down
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-25
Updated: 2019-04-04
Packaged: 2019-04-07 16:44:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 26
Words: 81,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14085222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TurboSoggy69/pseuds/TurboSoggy69
Summary: It's three in the morning and Tom just agreed to go on a road trip with a communist. Maybe it's because he hates himself, or maybe he thinks everyone would do better with him gone, either  way he never signed up for this shit.This was somewhat inspired by the Netflix series "The End of the Fxxxking World,” but it is also quite far from it after jut a few turns because uh this isn’t that. I suck at summaries, but this is going to be angsty. And smut.CHARACTERS NOT PEOPLE, THANK YOU.I changed my username, this is the same story.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for clicking on this!

Long nights always led to stupid decisions when it came to Tom. His dark eyes looked up to glance around the shadows of the front room before he shut them again to take another large gulp from his flask. He was currently sitting by the front door, his knees pulled up to his chest as he was trying to decide whether he was gonna leave or not. 

He spent many nights doing this; staying up, drinking, loathing around in self pity. It was a recent occurrence after he had started to begin looking deeper into his memories. It was like rewatching an eighties comedy and realizing that it wasn't actually that funny, and actually pretty sad. He liked to leave things in the past, but he never was good at it, and that was what had been messing with him.

A common idea that had been plaguing his mind was to just leave. It would be better, after all. No one had told him specifically, but it was obvious to him that no one was necessarily excited about his being here. No one asked how he was, checked on him after locking himself in his room for days (except for once when Matt thought he died), or came looking if he walked out. It wasn't even all of those things combined that bothered him. One of the big reminders he wasn't wanted laid right on the surface of his friend's face. 

Everytime he saw Matt, he would get his reminder. It reminded him about the time that the evil director guy made a bunch of clones of them, and when there was one too many Matts, they kicked Tom out instead getting rid of it. Tom only came back after getting drunk. He walked right into the house and stuck a knife right in the spare matt's skull, and then went back into his room to get more drunk. He recalled Tord coming in at some point asking what he wanted to do with the body, and that was all he remembered. 

Another reminder was walking into his room in general. It reminded him of when that commie fuck came back and his friends just let him, and made him stay in Tom's room. He didn't understand why they would put them in the same and room and somehow get mad if a window got broken. Did they expect them not to fight? He lightly reached up to feel the scar on his hairline left from when that happened. Tord had done something stupid again and Tom got upset. This resulted in a fight, and the fight resulted in Tord slamming Tom's head through a window in his bedroom. He supposed he should say 'their' bedroom since it was a shared space. All it took was some rearranging and a thin line of yellow duct tape to separate his side of the room and Tord's.

It wasn't like he enjoyed it at all but it wasn't as bad as he originally thought it would be. The first few nights resulted mostly in Tord staying quiet on his side, probably so that he wouldn't start anything too soon, but eventually he grew comfortable enough to watch his hentai aloud and that was when things began to get bad. He guessed that when it was mostly okay when he was tipsy, not totally drunk. It wasn't horrible to get on Tom's bad side when he had some alcohol in his system, it was sober Tom that Tord had to watch out for. So when Tord played his music or whatever else aloud when the brit was tipsy, it'd be fine, dare say fun. They would stay up making fun of each other in whatever topic they were on that night until Tom was wheezing on the floor.

Other times it wasn't fun at all. There had been times where one of them would randomly have a melt down and they had to choose between one of them leaving to the bathroom or awkwardly comforting the other. Of course it would be Tom to first start bawling his eyes out at seven PM on a weekday, with just a few sips of smirnoff left in his flask. The issue wasn't even him crying that day, it was Tord actually trying to help him. He expected some sarcastic remark and then he would leave, but that never happened. 

What happened was Tord taking out one of his earbuds to check the volume and hearing quiet sniffles from the other end of the room. The clear option would have been to ignore it, but for some reason he called out the other man's name to check on him. Tom must have noticed the hesitant concern in his voice because he looked up from his bass to give a small nod and he figured it would have ended there, but it didn't. It took just one more cautious question from the Norski to have him crying until he couldn't breathe. 

'Thomas, what's wrong?' What was wrong? He didn't take the effort to notice the lack of time it took for Tord to be on the ground right in front of him, lifting Susan out of his hands, and reaching over to wrap his arms around him. Tom let himself cry on his red hoodie as small, encouraging things were said to him. Wild sobs escaped from him while rough hands gently ran through his hair. It was at that point his memory vanished once more. That was the first time that yellow line was crossed. He recalled waking up in that same spot with a comforter thrown over him. They fought a lot that day.

Memories like those were the ones that often appeared when he was trying to talk himself out of stupid things, but if his sober self wouldn't let him use Tord as an excuse to stay, his drunk self wouldn't either. 

"Yup." He got up and allowed himself to lean on the wall a moment to let his head to get less dizzy before taking another drink and opening the door that led to the front yard. He began to take a step out until he heard a loud creak from his shared room. Tom struggled to shut the door again and turned to look at the cause of the noise. Tord was standing in the doorway with an unamused expression a moment before continuing to make his way over to the kitchen. He heard the clinking of glass and then the sound of the coffee brewer starting before Tord gestured for him to come over, and for some reason he followed. 

Tom sat down at the kitchen table and watched as Tord shoved a glass of water over to him and sat down across from him. He waited until Tom reluctantly took a drink to speak. "I saw you leaving. That's pretty shit."

"Fuck off."

"Where did you think you were gonna go? Did you think there was going to be a magical pony waiting to carry you off to Neverland?"

Tom looked up at his face, a dumbfounded look on his own. "T-Tord I-uh- don't think that's how the- story goes."

"Doesn't matter." There was a shared silence between them until a 'ding' was heard that meant the coffee was done. Tord stood to receive it before heading back in the direction of their room, looking back at Tom and shrugging his shoulders as a suggestion to join him, but he shook his head. Tord nodded and took another step before turning back once more. "Tom?"

Tom shook his head harsher to wake himself up before turning to look at the other man. "Mm?"

"When you do leave, I wanna come with." What the hell? Tom looked over at Tord with confusion evident on his face. After a short stare down it became clear that he wasn't going to expand on the statement any. "We could leave tomorrow, if you wanted."

Tom tried to take a moment before having a decision, he really did, but as he glanced over the room once more and memories came flooding in once again, he had his next stupid decision made. 

"Alright."


	2. A Good Start

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom is reluctant and Tord has a suitcase. Matt still gets punched.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna add a song at the beginning of each chapter so that this story can sorta have a sound track? Listen if ya want. It should just sorta give the feel of the chapter. 
> 
> Sweet FA by Peach Pit  
> https://youtu.be/FuqkfxdFXNk

Tom couldn't seem to remember a time that he had been so upset at the sun as it shined brightly on his face and made him very aware of his headache and hangover. It took a large amount of effort to get himself motivated enough to open his eyes, groaning and covering them with his hand once he did so. His skin burned as he rubbed the sleep off of his face, then decided to finally look around to figure out where the hell he was, because it definitely was not his bed.

He glanced around the room. The first thing he saw was the television, then a picture on the wall, and last his eyes settled on the coffee table. He lazily took the time to notice a glass of water that was set next to the remote along with some pills. That was his que to sit up. He threw his legs over the couch and pulled his body to rest on the object beneath him, waiting a moment for his brain to clear up before continuing to receive what had been laid out for him. Wait, who took the time to set out pills for when he woke up? His tired mind discarded the thought as he popped the pills in his mouth and brought the cup up to his lips and swallowed the water.

The glass was placed back down on the table as he rested his head on the back of the couch a moment longer before hearing a door open from behind him, revealing a very tired looking Tord.

"Thomas, are you awake?" The question was answered by another soft groan, his throat still feeling too dry to properly respond just yet. Tord nodded to himself and made his way over to the front of the couch and took a seat next to Tom. It was still early, so he just had on sweatpants and a black shirt, much like Tom with his boxers and gray shirt. "We have about an hour before we leave, so you should probably get dressed and put some of your clothes in the suitcase."

Leave? What was he talking about? Tom rolled his head to the side in thought, digging into his memories to figure out what he meant. Last night, he definitely drank, and he definitely was depressed or else he would be in his room either being stupid, or having a fist fight with Tord, and Tord didn't kick him out otherwise one of them would have a black eye. He recalled sitting by the door for some time, and then the commie came out for something. Coffee, was it? He gave him water, and left, but didn't he say something-? Oh. Fuck. Tord was actually going to go through with this. Why did he want to leave anyway, and with him of all people? As far as Tom knew they were still on terms of 'I hate you' or at least 'it's complicated but you aren't worth saying that.'

"Oh." The brit winced as his voice croaked out, causing him to clear his throat before continuing. "You still want to do that?"

Tord kept a straight face as he snorted, leaning back on the couch now as well. "I'm honestly just surprised that you remember what I'm talking about. Edd and Matt should be back in about an hour or less, so we should start getting ready now so that we can take the car when they get back."

Tom made a confused expression at that. "Take the car? When they get back? Where did they go this early?" His friends usually didn't wake up until around ten, so for them to have gotten up early enough to actually go somewhere was very surprising.

"First of all, it's three in the afternoon. Second of all, they left last night to some hotel after you started throwing things at the blender. Third, yes we are taking the car. How else do you expect to get around?" Tord stated this like it was obvious, and that he was surprised at the fact that Tom didn't already know that was the plan. Speaking of a plan...

Tom sighed. "I'm not sure about this. Last night, I was really drunk," Tord nodded. "I was expecting to just leave on my own, and I wasn't sure what would happen after that. We don't have a plan, money, and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about taking the car-"

"How do you feel about Matt?"

"Huh?" Tom wasn't understanding the purpose of that question.

"I know you don't like him, not entirely sure why but you do have plenty of options to choose from. So, Thomas, how do you feel about Matt?" Tord finished the statement by turning his head to see Tom's expression turn to one of confliction. He was thinking very hard about the question.

He didn't want to outright say that he didn't like him, because that wasn't entirely true. Tom simply didn't like the position that Matt had put himself in. He guessed that it had to be jealousy, but that seemed too incorrect as well. He didn't like that Matt was deemed more important than him, even though nobody had necessarily said that, he had figured it out himself very easily. Tom didn't think that Matt deserved his place in their friendship as much as he was, but he didn't entirely hate him. "Sometimes I'd like to punch him in the face."

Tord let himself grin at the answer. "You should definitely do that sometime." There was a shared silence between them until Tord stood back up and stretched before turning back to look at Tom. "You should get your stuff ready. There is only one suit case, so I suggest you put something in it before I take up all the space." Tom nodded. He was actually going to do this. 

Tord turned to go back into their shared room, Tom following close behind. Just as expected, the suitcase was already half filled with some of the Norski's clothes, and that was about it. Tom was astonished that Tord hadn't taken up all of it already, however he was still looking for things. Tom needed to get some of his necessities in there before it was all filled up. Tom moved to his dresser and brought out some clothes; two shirts, a pair of pants, socks, and some boxers. It looked like they were really going to have to make due of what they had. After having grabbed what he needed, he turned back to where Tord was on his bed. Tom took a step, cautiously looking down at the yellow piece of tape before crossing it and setting his things inside the case.

He then turned to start getting his clothes ready for when he got out of the shower, because who knew when he was going to be able to take another one? As he did this, Tord had left to grab their toothbrushes and came back to add them to the now full suitcase, and Tom left to the bathroom. Since he didn't know how much time had passed already and they needed to head out in what was an hour, he tried to be quick about it. He quickly washed his hair and that was about it. Once he dried off and got dressed in his clean clothes and hoodie, he walked out to see Tord also dressed and ready to leave. Good timing. 

Tord was sitting by the door like Tom had done the night before with their luggage next to him as he waited for the car to pull up. The time between them sitting and the car showing up was spent having little conversation, mostly with Tom continuously asking if Tord was 'sure about this' and Tord just trying to get Tom to chill out so they could start brainstorming a plan. Somewhere between Tom's worry and Tord's loud thinking, they heard the car pull up. Tord seemed to be very clear minded as he got up with the suitcase in hand and looked back at Tom. "It's very simple, we get into the car by any means and I'll drive."

The only thing that Tom was thinking about as he opened the front door with Tord following from behind him is that the man made everything sound like war. They were just going to take the car and that would be it, but he made it sound much more menacing and he began to grow panicked, but as he stepped out of the doorway and saw Edd and matt getting out of the car with grocery bags in their hands and Matt happily making his way towards him, he had a very sudden realization. 

Sometimes everything is suddenly very simple, like everything just shifts in a moment. You step out of your body, out of your life. You step out and see where you are very clearly. You see yourself and think 'fuck this shit.' That's exactly what happened as Tom threw his fist at Matt, watching how his face turned from confused, to shocked, to scared before the collision was made and he was on the ground. He payed no mind to Edd rushing to his side, incredibly confused at what had just happened and what was continuing to happen as Tord threw luggage into the backseat and climbed into driver's seat, Tom already in next to him, and backed out of the driveway and down the road.

Laughter was heard beside Tom as he sat with white eyes, staring straight ahead of them at the road. Tord was driving somewhere East towards the exit from the town barely over the speed limit as he kept taking short glances at Tom's terrified face. "You just punched Matt!" More laughter followed the statement.

Tom repeated what he said carefully, looking down at his hands and then back down the road in the direction they came from. "I just punched Matt." Tord's laughter turned into obnoxious wheezing as he wiped fake tears from his eyes and pulled the car back to the correct side of the road since it drifted off. "I just punched Matt in the face." 

"Yeah? That was hilarious!" The sound of Tord's approval somehow started to calm him down, so he reached over in an attempt to turn on the radio only for all of the stations to be news broadcasts. He began to worry that the entire car ride would be filled with awkward silence until Tord began talking again, his breath finally caught up enough for them to start making plans and reflect on what had already happened.

He didn't know where they were going or how they were gonna get there, but he had just punched Matt in the face, and stole the car and that seemed like a pretty good place to start.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, maybe lemme know what you thought?


	3. Good Times Never Last

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom asks a lot of questions and Tord doesn't particularly enjoy some of them. They both have a bit of an epiphany at the end. Also, please note that leaving was Tord's alternative to The End after thinking it over! That's some important shit.
> 
> Song: https://youtu.be/rUK2ToAP4DM  
> Hunk Beach by The Walters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is so long lmao.

It was currently seven at night and Tord had probably circled this town's grocery store at least three times now.  He had driven quite a distance away from the house, about three and a half hours away, and he only took enough money for about two nights at a cheap hotel and some groceries, but only if he played their cards right. He had to stop a gas station only once, which was good, but he was really trying to push his luck with the car, and it wasn't helping that he just went around the store another god damn time. Tord threw his head onto the steering wheel in frustration before before putting the car in reverse and pulling into the parking space nearest to him. 

The issue he was currently was facing, despite everything else, was that Tom had fallen asleep once again and Tord just couldn't bring himself to wake him up. The Norsk couldn't seem to remember a time that the man next to him looked so peaceful; he was always mad, drunk, stressed, something was always wrong when Tord had seen him. Furthermore; if he was really sleeping this much then he probably needs it. Of course that might just be his presence that caused that but he knew that he wasn't the cause of all his problems otherwise they wouldn't be here in this almost empty grocery lot, miles from home, with nothing to depend on except for themselves.

He turned the key in the ignition to shut the car off and sat there a moment too long before opening his door to exit the vehicle, then crossing in front of the car to get to Tom's door. Tord figured he should just open the door and tap him until he woke up, that was probably easier than talking with as dry as his throat was anyway. He should have brought a bottle of water, or Edd's soda just to spite him. 

Tom jumped up as soon as he felt Tord's hand on his shoulder, but quickly relaxed once he realized just that. He blinked a few times and took in the environment before turning his head back towards a bright red hoodie. Tom cleared his throat. "Where are we?"

"Store. Food. Get up." Blunt and simple was the way to go.

Tom just nodded and lifted his legs over the seat, ignoring Tord's outstretched hand as he stood out of the car. The walk was obnoxiously long due to Tord's horrible choice in parking, but Tom didn't mention it. Tord figured it was because he now had a good amount energy from sleeping literally all day. 

Inside the store was far cooler than it was outside, especially since all day had been spent stuck in a small car with only Tord's window open for the smoke from his cigar. The grocery was very small, which was very appropriate since you could miss seeing the town it was in if you just blinked. Tom grabbed a basket as soon as he entered with the assumption that they wouldn't be getting much do to their money issue, but stood confused as Tord crossed in front of him to grab a very large cart. "Do we have enough money to properly use that?" 

The Norsk threw Tom an amused look. "I'd hope so, we aren't going to be able to buy things from a store for awhile. We probably have about two days until Edd contacts the police for us missing, and when that happens we are going to have to lay low for awhile, so yeah we should fill this cart." Quick steps were made as Tom went to catch up with the man who had already started moving. How long has he thought about leaving for him to have such a detailed planned to where he had already thought about when Edd would actually do something about it? And why did he want to leave in the first place? 

Tom tilted his head to the side as Tord put some cheap ass bread into the cart. "Is there anything else I should know about what's gonna happen?" That was a serious question full of serious concern. He wasn't entirely aware of Tord's plan, and he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to do it if he was already talking about robbing places. The thing was that after two days passed, he probably wouldn't have much of a choice but to go along, so he was just mentally preparing himself. 

Tord made a face of thought as they walked down the first aisle, but Tom wasn't sure if he was thinking about the question or if they actually wanted any canned goods. He must have decided that they did as he set his arm behind the and shoved a bunch into the cart all at once, creating a lot of noise in the process, and they continued down the next aisle. "We aren't going to be able to stay anywhere when the police are contacted." Oh good, he was answering. Tom didn't want to admit it, but he was trying his best not to piss him off by asking too much, not that he wouldn't be able to handle it, but because Tom wouldn't know what to do alone. Tord was much farther ahead of him on this one. 

"So we would be homeless, or..?"

"I have a few ideas, but I doubt you'd be a fan of any. By tomorrow morning, we will be out of this town, but tonight we are staying at a small hotel I saw on the way here."

"How much money do we have to be spending on this? I didn't see you take any when we left." Another question that was clear Tom was trying to prepare himself for anything that could result from the shopping trip.

Tord got silent a moment before answering. "Edd keeps emergency money in the vegetable drawer in the fridge." 

"We have a vegetable drawer in the-? Nevermind. You stole the money from Edd too?" Tord nodded as he put a bag of off brand chips in the cart now. It was important to stay calm and confident in situations like this because it made it seem much more like he knew what he was doing. The truth was that he didn't at all. He only knew what he saw on those crime shows he would watch whenever he was stuck sleeping on the living room couch because Tom had gotten pissed and tried to do something crazy, like set him on fire or some dumb shit.  "Fuck! We took the car and all of their money?" Tom was rambling. "This was a horrible idea, we should go back-"

Tord was pushing the cart with his elbows now so that he could rub his temples in aggravation. "If you want anything, you should get it because I'm not driving back. We can't go back now."

"Its only been a few hours-"

"We aren't going back." Tord's voice was stern as he tilted his head to glare behind him at the now white eyed man. It wasn't like Tord had actually scared the Brit. Tom just hadn't expected to ever actually listen to Tord, but he did as soon as his eyes caught sight of the other man's. He was doing that weird eye thing that only usually happened when he was super fucking pissed or full on psycho, and Tom should have taken that as a sign to stop talking, but of course he didn't. 

He couldn't really decide on just one thing to say, but Tord speaking like Tom was just supposed to listen absolutely made him want to slam his face on one of the under-crowded store shelves. Tom crossed in front of the cart and placed his hands on the front of it to stop Tord from going forward, and it took a bit of a struggle before he looked up to meet angry, dark eyes. "Why not? Obviously we aren't fucking going to, but why can't we go back? Why did you want to leave in the first place?" 

He got no response, only silence between them. Tord had to break eye contact that, and that was a huge sign that something was completely fucked. Tord didn't need to respond. There was nothing he could say that would be remotely okay if he actually answered the question in a decent amount of detail, so instead he just looked down at the shitty food in the cart. All of the food sucked because he thought that if they didn't want to eat it then it would last longer. 

He busied himself with throwing in a box of whatever was on the shelf next to him. He wasn't answering not because it made him feel guilty or anything of the sort, but he hated that he wasn't able to do what he originally intended for a large variety of reasons. Besides, if he and Tom were already hours away from home and he had a plan he didn't want to fuck it up by telling him the truth.

"Oh shit, what did you do?"

Tord's glare darkened and he pushed the cart extra hard as to get Tom's hands off of it, and gave a very vague answer as he made his way past him. "It's not what I did do, it's what I didn't."

The rest of the shopping was silent, mostly with Tom pondering what the Norski had said. Some of it was spent with Tord making sad attempts at conversation because he thought he had somehow offended the other man, which would be fine any other day but he was seriously trying not to fight Tom due to their situation. A good amount of the silence between them was just them biting their tongues so they wouldn't burn down the store. They were already gonna be in trouble once the authorities found out, he had no need to set fire to this old building. That would just get them found out about quicker.

The car ride to the hotel was full of Tom drinking (because of course he wanted alcohol, despite Tord's concern of the ID check leaving receipts that they had been there). Tord didn't mind once it was done, however; Tom was much more fun and Tord could actually enjoy a bit of the road trip. 

It was about nine and they were both yelling the lyrics to Africa by Toto. Tom had found an old CD in the backseat that only had one track that didn't skip, and he was intent on playing it until they got to their night's destination, Tord was just going with it.

Eventually, they did arrive to said destination. It was chillier out by now,  and late enough for the street lights to turn on and fully show the dingy building they would be staying in. Lucky for Tord, Tom wasn't that drunk, somewhat do to his tolerance and Tord not letting him get too much because he would be the one to have to deal with it. He honestly usually was anyway back at the house because he was the only one with enough nerve to punch him if the time came to. Not that it mattered, though; since they weren't there anymore. 

Tord carried in their one suitcase while Tom tried to talk to the woman at the front desk. He was talking so loud over the lady that he couldn't even hear what the other person was saying, and he didn't feel like hearing anyway. He was too focused on staring at all the cracks in the walls. "Yeah, two rooms... We need two... You don't have- only one? Okay, what about one room with double beds? ...Yes, double beds... You don't have a room with double beds? What other people are staying here-? ...Okay, yeah we can take that... You too." 

Tom got Tord's attention to follow him up the stairs to their room. The brit took an excessive amount of time to find their room number and gave up the key so that Tord could unlock the door since he was having too much trouble, and opened it to find it was just a single bed. It was big enough, just not their ideal situation.

They both made faces at the piece of furniture before Tord made his way over to it and sat the suitcase on top of it to go through it. Tom decided to follow his actions and laid down on the bed next to him while he searched for something.

This seemed like an okay way to end the day; they didn't get into a physical fight, they got food, they screamed the lyrics to Africa. It wasn't that bad. It was too early to say that he was figuring this would work out, since they still both felt like they were walking on eggshells around each other, but the first day was down. Tom didn't think that anything could happen this late in the day to ruin the progress they had made.

Tord must have given up looking for whatever he was looking for because he laid back on the bed as well after shoving the luggage off. Neither of them knew exactly what to do now that they were in this setting; sharing a bed, no TV to distract themselves with, and neither of them particularly tired. Luckily, Tom had some alcohol in his system to keep them both entertained. "What do you think Edd and Matt are doing?"

Tord sighed towards the ceiling, pulling his arms under his head and kicking his shoes off to get more comfortable. "Uh- probably watching bad movies and trying to ignore their problems." 

Tom laughed, like actually laughed. He took another drink from his bottle of cheep liquor before holding it up to the light and examining it. "What do you think they think we're doing?"

"I'm not sure on that one." Tord pursed his lips in thought. If he was in their situation and two guys that claimed to hate each other just stole their car, money and then left, he would probably think that they had some weird, secret relationship. The thing was, they didn't have one of those and they were just trying not to kill each other. They both had their own reasons to leave, but Tord had been the one that decided that if Tom was leaving, he would too. He was going to either way, but this way he would have someone else there and maybe, just maybe, he would figure out if going with his original plan would have been a better idea. He didn't want to be left in the dark forever.

"They probably think we're fucking."

This time Tord laughed, really loud and obnoxiously. He couldn't believe that Tom had just said that so nonchalantly, with not a bit of hesitation in his voice. "Probably." He sat up and swatted his hand to grab the bottle Tom had still been holding up, then leaned back to take a swig, choking a little bit because he was still laughing. The man next to him followed suite, grabbing the alcohol back from him and drinking some as well. 

"Ya know, this actually isn't that bad. I figured we would have already tried to kill each other. That almost happened, but it didn't." Tord was surprised again by Tom's openness regarding what had already happened. "When did this even happen, anyway?" 

Tord shot him a sideways glance. What was he referencing to? Was he actually about to start talking about their 'relationship' so casually? That's why Tord could enjoy the other's company at some points, it was the times that Tom could prove that he wasn't just a drunk asshole like he always came off as. Especially to Tord. It was nice to know that Tom was an actual fucking person, and Tom shared a similar feeling towards Tord when it came to that topic. "What do you mean?"

Tom made a contemplating expression. "This. When did all the bickering and teasing turn into this?"

That was a very loaded question that he didn't know the answer to. He wondered that sometimes as well, but he usually couldn't bring it to the front most part of his brain. He usually pushed it out and ignored it, then went on to piss Tom off for no good reason and that was just the way things were. He couldn't seem to pinpoint an exact time where their crude jokes turned into fist fights, or throwing someone's head through a window, or trying to shove the other's hand into boiling water. He didn't know the answer and he didn't like it. "I- uh- don't know." Tom hummed in response. "We should probably eat and try and get some sleep."

"Alright."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character development, anyone?


	4. Don't Prank Call the People You Are Running From

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh my, and here we have some one sided tension. 
> 
> Song  
> No Buses by Arctic Monkeys  
> https://youtu.be/bHUb5v_UmK8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took a bit longer to write this one, I had to go over some plot.

Tom was the first one to wake up the next morning, due to the excessive amount of sleep he had gotten the day before. There was a silent ache behind his skull as he glanced around the beige walls of the hotel room he would be trapped in until the man over him woke up- wait, over him? 

Sure enough, he was. Tord was asleep, face buried in Tom's shoulder with his arm lazily resting over his chest.

Tom quickly sat up to push the other man off of him. It worked, but Tord shifted to where the Brit had been laying, so now there was no way to just try and fall back asleep and wait the morning out until the other woke up. He glanced out of the window next to his side of the bed and noticed how the sun was rising over the horizon. It was still early, probably around eight, and there was little hope in Tord waking up soon on his own. That didn't mean much except that Tom was gonna wake him up for him.

But should he really? He didn't know when the Norsk would be wanting to leave, but he must be tired if he was going to take any information from the position he was just in. Along with that, Tord had let him sleep until three yesterday and during the car ride, so maybe he should just let him be. So what was he going to do in that time?

Yeah, fuck all of that. Tom was waking him up.

He turned his torso to face the other man and lightly shoved his shoulder, accidentally noticing how tense it was. "Tord." No response. "Tord wake up." Tom shoved his shoulder this time, earning a grunt in response.

"..What time is it?" Tord's groggy voice finally spoke up.

"I don't know, but either wake up or move over." Oddly, Tord listened. He rolled back to his side of the bed before sitting back up and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes with the back of his hands before roughly pushing the blanket off of himself. Tom noticed dark circles under his eyes when Tord met his own. He looked a bit dead. 

Tord took a few minutes to just sit in the bed and look between dark eyes and the matress under him. He was incredibly tired since he had gone to sleep at about one last night, and far later the night before. His back hurt like hell from driving so long the day before, carrying huge bags of groceries, and dragging around their luggage. Of course, Tom helped, but it didn't make his spine any less angry. He didn't care much though, he was used to it from his time apart from Edd, Matt, and Tom. He rolled his shoulders in circles to lessen the tension.

It took a moment for Tom to speak up again, unsure of what was happening in the other man's head. All he knew was that he had a look that directly translated to 'I'm-not-sure-whether-I'm-going-to-kill-you-or-myself.' God forbid, but Tom felt kind of bad for waking him up. "Uh... You can go back to sleep if you want." Tord just shook his head as his hand went to fail an attempt at rubbing his own shoulders, but winced when he felt a hand push his away and replace it with two on either side. He felt the bed shift as well as the hands began to awkwardly and somewhat reluctantly rub his back. "Is this okay..?" Tord visibly relaxed at the sound of Tom's voice and lazily nodded his head. "What's the plan for today?"

Tord hung his head back in thought. "We can try eating at a diner today. I don't know what else we could do besides getting some more distance between us and Edd's. That's our main goal right now." Tom frowned. That sounded awful boring, but he supposed that should be expected when neither of them really had a destination in mind when they left. Tom thought about asking if there was anything else they could do, but decided against it since all he had been doing since they left was ask questions and Tord seemed to have gotten a bit stressed since when they got on the road and now.

Yesterday seemed to have gone fine, and Tom was somewhat proud of himself for that. It took a lot of restraint to keep himself from knocking him out at the grocery, but the night was somewhat fun. After Tom got ahold of some alcohol, the both of them had stayed up for a long while just telling stupid stories and pissing each other off. One of the stories he vividly remembered was that Tord almost over dosed on benadryl because he had an allergic reaction to something but wanted to go somewhere. Not that it has any importance, Tom just thought it was hilarious.

Tom finally decided to respond. "Alright." 

It didn't take long for the two of them to be up and back on the road. They did a quick dine and dash, which Tom was confused as to how it was so easy, and they were now making their way further down some empty looking highway. Tord claimed that if they drive far enough, they'd find something to do since he had caught on to how bored he was. 

So far all he was seeing was grass and old pay phones just off the road. He had some terrible idea to pull over and make a call to the house, but decided against it until Tom voiced a similar interest. Therefore, they both stood out of the vehicle and made a path to a grimy, plastic box that contained the phone. Tom opened the latch on the door and they both struggled to fit in, with Tord standing half in and half out so they wouldn't be breathing in each other's air. "What do you want to say?"

Tord made a face. He wasn't sure he needed to say anything, and maybe he just wanted to do this to start something. "Something along the lines of 'fuck off' or a bad joke." Tom made a look of confusion and amusement at Tord's statement. Did Tord leave because he had some sort of beef with Edd and Matt? "Uh, okay, just tell them... Something weird. Maybe... Sharks are the best kind of food."

Tom grinned. "Did this just turn into a prank call?"

"Yes," Tord mused and watched Tom push in the numbers and pick up the phone. "OH, say 'you're a lizard, Harry."

"That's lame," Tom laughed. "I'm gonna ask if he's seen my dog." Tord sighed and nodded when Tom pressed the phone to his ear and listened to it ring. Edd must have been waiting by the phone with how quickly it was picked up. 

"Hello?" His heart rate picked up. He kind of felt bad for calling him and it just being this. He sounded hopeful, and Tom could only assume it was because he answered to an unknown number and thought it could be them. It was.

"Yes, hello." Tord's eyes widened and he got closer to try and hear what was being said on the other end of the phone. The two exchanged looks before Tom continued. "I was just calling to see if you've seen my dog? He is short, brown, and thinks he is better than everyone else." Tord gave him a disapproving look and mouthed the words 'that's lame.'

It was silent on the other end of the phone for long moments with Tord trying his hardest to hear. "Tom? Is that you?" Tom's eyes changed from black to white very quickly. "Are you okay? Is Tord with you? Where are you? When will you be back? What happened-?" It was obvious Tord had heard what was being said with how quickly he took the phone from Tom's hand and hung it up. They stood there only a moment longer before Tord decided that now was an appropriate time to speak.

"That was a horrible idea." Tom nodded and stared at the ground, his eyes still wide. "You should have gone with my idea." Tom shot a disbelieving look at the man before he continued to walk out of the phone booth and to the car. 

They were both in the car rather quickly after that, with Tom offering to drive this time so that Tord could get more sleep. Tord let him drive, but refused to rest anymore in fear that Tom would fuck something up and get them caught for one reason or another. With that, they set off again, with Africa playing in the background and mediocre conversation to busy themselves with. Most of the conversing was made by Tord talking about what their goal should actually be because they couldn't just stay on the road forever, and they knew that. They needed a destination. 

They were currently driving in a widely wooded area with little to no houses, and Tord had been scanning the trees for quite awhile now. Something about them staying in the area, which made Tom worried that he was talking about parking somewhere and sleeping in the car. He figured they would have to at some point, but they still had a large amount of day left to find a hotel again.

"Right there, pull over there." Tord pointed to a small cabin that was only visible to the Brit after he squinted. He followed the instructions and pulled into the small gravel area in front of the home and parked the car. He got a bit concerned when Tord got out and started walking around the 'yard' and looking through windows because he could be doing that for a variety of reasons. After they had circled the house twice, Tord must have made a decision in his head because he made his way back to the front door and went inside without even knocking. Tom thought about voicing his concern, but Tord was still heavily looking around the entire inside of the cabin.

Tom only followed him around as the other man searched every room very thoroughly; blankets, cabinets, under the couch cushions, turning on foccets for whatever reason that was helping him. Everything. He didn't stop until he went back and checked every item of food in the kitchen. Tord spoke after the last one, a box of macaroni that seemed to have held all of the answers.

He set it down with a proud expression. "It's a vacation home, I doubt that anyone will be here anytime soon. We might be able to stay here a few days." Tom nodded and tried not to make fun of him for how much shit he did to find that out. Now was probably a good time to ask a very important question.

"Did you find any alcohol during that?" Tord grinned and gestured for Tom to follow him before he went down a hallway to a spare bedroom. 

It was almost seven by the time they were both officially drunk and having incredibly weird conversations. Bottles of expensive liquor was in clusters around the two of them, Tom having more next to him than Tord, who was trying not to get totally wasted so he could handle a situation if one showed up but it wasn't necessarily working.

They were both sitting on the floor and leaning on pieces of furniture with old music playing from a cassette player they found in a storage closet along side gallons of bleach. Tord made a mental note of that, mostly in case he had to use it for something and because no normal person should have shelves full, but he kept in his mind that no one was there so it wasn't too concerning of why the person kept so much around. That, and Tom's constant rambling was enough to keep his mind off it. 

"-but I don't know if I would call her 'hot,' you know? I- uh, I'm not even sure I could categorize her in any area. She is doing great, but I don't know if I personally think she is hot," Tord responded. They were currently talking about celebrities and playing the game 'hot or not' because why wouldn't that happen? The celebrity in mind was Winona Ryder, who Tom fully stood with the choice 'hot.'

"Okay, picture this. Close your eyes." Tord did so and Tom scooted in front of him to lean into his ear and whisper out the scene. "Winona walks into this room right now, her hair down, stands right in front of you, smiles, and says 'Tord, I just took a six hour flight to be here and there is nothing more I would rather do than kiss you.'" Tord's breath hitched when he felt Tom's breath on his neck. "Now, is she hot or not?" Tom pulled back to await his answer, not caring enough to notice the slightest bit of pink that now rested on the other man's face that hadn't been caused by the scene Tom described.

Tord opened his eyes. "Yes. She is hot."

Tom smiled and leaned back against the bottom of the couch. "Now we're on the same page." The room had a sudden shift in temperature that Tom appeared to not notice, and Tord decided it was better that way. He took another drink from a half empty next to him and let himself relax again. It was easy for him to blame that on the alcohol. He figured it was about time to change the subject.

"So, Thomas, if you don't mind me asking," he didn't actually care if he minded, "do you regret leaving?" 

Tom loudly groaned before responding. "I don't think so. This is surprisingly alright." He took another drink before sitting up a bit. "You're alright, Commie." 

Tord gave a questioning look before holding his bottle of whatever he as drinking now between them. "Same to you, Jehova's." Tom clinked his bottle against Tord's and they both drank to what seemed like a fair display of friendship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love you people so much, dear god.


	5. Isn't This Nice?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which some murder happens, in self defense of course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is gore here, so beware. Also, there is fanart for this on Insta??? I'm shook. You guys are fucking fantastic.
> 
> Song: Sweet to Me by Summer Salt  
> https://youtu.be/DtvSrIhGZ54

Tom blinked in the dark bedroom as he turned on the mattress once again. Tord had gone to sleep probably about an hour ago in the spare bedroom, and Tom was currently in the master's trying to fall asleep as well, but it wasn't working very well. He couldn't seem to get comfortable in the new, foreign house and since he was sober enough now, started to worry about what they were gonna do again. Strangely enough, the thought didn't freak him out as much as it did the day before. They were doing fine at the moment, and he didn't want to ruin it by panicking. Besides, he trusted that Tord would somehow get them through it decently. He just needed some rest before then.

According to the digital clock on the stand next to him, it was 11: 56 PM. The time before Tord went to bed was spent telling more stupid, embarrassing stories, and loudly laughing through them while getting even more drunk. Tom even told the story about how he thought he overdosed on pot, which is impossible, when he was a sophomore. He wanted to impress some girl by taking a hit out of a big bong, but he had no idea how it worked, and he got really fucking high and had no idea how to deal with it. He ended up calling his mom to pick him up because he had an 'allergic reaction to the cat.' His mom always thought that he had allergies around them after that, and never found out that he was lying because he just thought he overdosed on pot. Tragic.

But that's not important to the story at all.

He was knocked out of his thoughts when he heard a bang from somewhere in the house. On instinct, pulled the blanket up higher on himself and his body went still as he waited to see if the noise happened again. He figured it was probably just Tord waking up and needing to piss or something, but the thought of it being the owner of the house wasn't too far behind, but Tord said it was a vacation home so it couldn't be. Right? His head was good at going for the worst possible scenario, but now that he was thinking about it, the front door was unlocked. That isn't normal for any home.

He heard the sound again, this time much closer, accompanied by footsteps too heavy to belong to Tord. That got him freaking out very quickly, but he stayed still. He was suddenly too scared to move, and the only thoughts going through his head was how the fuck he could get out of this. He assumed it was a male, and he had probably just been out to eat or something and had all of the food outdated because he usually didn't eat at the house. Okay, he might have been rushing into his thoughts too quickly at this point, but that wasn't that far fetched, especially since it wasn't off much from normal vacation times.

The footsteps grew closer before he heard the doorknob turn. Fucking shit. He had no idea what he was gonna do. Where the hell was Tord? Was he okay? How long has this person been here? His heart rate grew wild as the door began to open and the outline of the person became visible. The minute the man flipped on the light was when Tom knew there was no way out of this. He shot up out of the blankets and ran to the other side of the room so that the bed would be between the two of them. 

The man was wearing a heavy, brown coat, regular jeans and boots that showed he worked outdoors. He had some facial hair that looked more like a shadow than anything, and a well kept hair cut. He looked like he was in his forties. Overall, he didn't appear that harmful, but Tom wasn't taking any shit so he grabbed a golf stick in a barrel on the other side of the nightstand and awaited the man's actions. He seemed more shocked by Tom's action than his presence, probably because the house looked like it had definitely been raided.

"Hey, hey hey- calm down." The man put his hands up in a defensive position before Tom started to barely lower the golf club. "What are you doing in my house." It was a question, but it sounded more like a demand. 

Tom stuttered a jurassic amount to come up with something to say; a lie, an excuse, anything. His heart was pounding in his ears as his hands unconsciously tightened around the metal weapon. "I- uh- me and- uh. I- we needed somewhere- to- um, go tonight-. I- we didn't think, um- anyone was here.-"

Tom's attempt at defending himself was cut short by the angry looking man. "Put that down." Tom looked at the object before slowly placing it back where it was with shaking limbs and looking back at the man who was moving around the bed to approach Tom. It wasn't until he was in front of him before he started talking again. "You sure made a mess."

Tom's eyes went white. "I- I'm sorry, I can just leave-"

"No you can't." He cut Tom off and was suddenly even more intimidating than before. "It looks like you went through the entire house." He said that like it was really, really bad. Just being here and coming home to this shit should be bad enough, and Tom understood that very well, but everything seemed to have suddenly shifted to a horror movie. The plot was still unknown to him, and he half expected the man to start telling about some horrible plan he had before making sure the Brit wouldn't live to repeat it. The man made a quick move towards him, but luckily Tom moved just in time to yell out Tord's name before there were hands around his neck. 

His own hands were trying desperately to pry the other's away from his neck as the man continued speaking, but Tom couldn't grasp any of do to the sheer terror of what was happening. His thoughts were loud enough to focus on as he was still trying to gasp for air, but not getting any. The only thing he was thinking about was how much he hoped that Tord heard him because if he didn't, Tom was totally about to die. His thoughts were gradually getting quieter and his struggling growing much weaker before he heard a roaring bang and the hands from around his neck loosened, then disappeared. He hardly noticed the red liquid that was now all over his face and clothes.

Tom let himself fall down the wall and take a breath of air extremely loudly, but found a large amount of discomfort that the one breath was all he could get before he started coughing. He barely caught sight of Tord running around the mattress to get to Tom's side, or heard the sound of him pushing the the man's body away, or felt his arms wrapping around him and rubbing his back as Tom made an utmost effort to breathe again. The brit had tears starting to fall from his eyes and his face was a deep red from the lack of oxygen he had just endured. 

As soon as he got in his second breath of air, he accidentally started sobbing. He was so confused about everything that had just happened. It had came and went so quickly and now there was a dead guy on the ground and he had no idea why at this point. The way his arms folded over Tord's back was almost involuntary, and he knew he was probably holding onto him too tight, but Tord didn't appear to give a fuck. 

Sometimes Tord felt like someone Tom could almost fall in love with. Almost.

Tom let himself drown in the Norsk's words as he was pulled closer. They sat like that for probably a good four minutes on the ground, with Tord growing anxious about cleaning up the body and Tom's tears finally easing. Tom was first to pull himself away and wipe his face because there was still water on it, but he looked at his hands afterwards to see blood there as well. All he could muster was a frown. Tord wiped his own palms on his sweat pants and just sat to watch Tom's reaction. He didn't look too distraught, and that was probably the main sign that something just happened to his mental state. "...Where did you find the gun?" His voice was hoarse.

"Brought it." Tord kept a hand on the other's knee to rub small circles while he thought. He had no idea what Tom did to cause the man to try and kill him because some random person being in the house isn't really good, yeah, but trying to kill him was a lot unless Tom initiated it in some way. "We should start cleaning this up, then get out." Tom nodded and started to stand up, with Tord following quickly behind him in case something were to possibly happen. He had no clue what that 'something' was, and he knew that he was concerning himself too much with Tom when he had a dead body to be taking care of, but it came in second right now. He knew they had til at least seven to clean all the evidence, so he didn't mind making sure the Brit was okay. In his mind he knew that they were the only people they could trust now, and he needed to make sure Tom knew that.

Tom was walking into the kitchen, then turned past an island in the center of the room, and finally to the storage room door. He opened the door before turning back to Tord for assurance that what they needed was in there. Tord just nodded and walked in front of him to grab a gallon of the bleach he had previously been concerned about. He was starting to have his suspicions confirmed about the excessive amount of cleaning supplies. Tom grabbed some towels that was hanging on the wall near the light switch as well as some trash bags before following Tord back to the master bedroom. 

Luckily for them, most of the blood was just on the one wall, floor, the man, and themselves (mostly Tom). The first thing Tord deemed necessary was to get the man out of the way, and they did this by getting an unused sheet from the closet and pulling him onto it. It was in silent agreement for Tom to do that while Tord busied himself with wiping some of the blood from the upper portion of the wall with a bleach dosed towel. He didn't take his attention off of the task at hand until he heard something fall from behind him, and turned to see Tom staring down what looked like small pieces of plastic on the ground in front of him. 

Tord stood once more to walk over to where the other man was before squatting down to pick up old pieces of used film, and what was on them was entirely fucked up. Most of the films were pictures of women who had been murdered in extremely brutal ways, and some men murdered in less horrific ways. He flipped through the pictures in his hand before setting them back down on the ground. 

This explained a lot. The guy was definitely some dude who had some fucked up interest in murdering females in particular, and there was a lot of bleach so that he could do exactly what he was in the midst if doing; cleaning up a crime scene. It also explained why he had tried killing Tom. He looked back towards the Brit before standing back up to his level. Tord wanted to say something, but he had no idea what. He knew that Tom was definitely taking this much worse than himself, and had no idea what to say either, so they settled on nothing. Tord awkwardly stole the sheet from Tom's hand.

It wasn't that they weren't panicking, no. They totally were, but mostly Tom, and even then he was really trying not to. He was remaining silent, but his eyes were dead white, along with his face. Something that Tord had found out quite some time ago was that when one person panics, the other is suddenly calm. That was the situation he was in.

Tom started to help again as soon as Tord had the sheet laid out across the floor. They both had to take one side of the man and pick him up over the ground before setting him back down, and before Tom could start rolling him up, Tord sat down to start searching for the man's wallet. Tom really wanted to be mad at him for that, but he just wasn't, and it was horrible. He really wanted to be mad at something. 

It honestly didn't take too long to clean up the mess due to how little space it took up. The items with blood on it, including their own clothes, had been spread out amongst the trash bags. The man was rolled up in a white sheet with the photos they had found scattered around his head. They were both currently standing out in some part of the woods not far from the house in different clothes they had taken from the closet while watching the bags of evidence burn. Tom was now wearing a plain, dark green button up with a peach colored shirt under it, and loose, brown pants. Tord was wearing a yellow short-sleeved shirt that had a faded red on the bottom of the sleeve, neck hem, and the bottom hem along with faded blue jeans that were rolled up right above the ankle. Tom had on some black and grey running shoes while Tord had to settle with brown work boots. 

Tord was standing in front of the fire as a way to keep warm, with his arms crossed in front of his chest while Tom was glaring at the flames. "Don't you think it's a little fucked up to be wearing his clothes?" Tom asked this with a strained voice. He probably wouldn't be able to talk the same for a few days.

"Yeah." He was very aware of that. Tord reached into his pocket to grab the wallet he had taken. The man's name was Darryl Holbrook, age 43. That was all he read before throwing the ID into the fire with the rest of the junk. On the brightside, he had kept a lot of money on him. He looked back towards Tom before shoving it back into his jeans. "...You alright?" Tom just nodded in response. Of course he was alright, just a bit confused. If he described the last few days to anyone, it would be like describing a really strange dream. It would only be in some crazy dream that he would end up being on the run with who he considered an 'enemy,' only to later be saved by said 'enemy.'

"...Thanks."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, guys. Also, if you have any fanart, ideas, or whatever the hell the tags being used on instagram is #theendofthefxxxingeddsworld and #teotfew so yeah.


	6. They Aren't Very Professional

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edd and Matt finally do something. Took 'em long enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Paul and Patryck are also in this. If you see my reference, you are amazing.  
> Song: Awful Things by Lil Peep (did you not expect that?  
> https://youtu.be/zOujzvtwZ6M

Edd waited exactly five days before doing anything about the situation he found himself and Matt in, but now he was finally sitting at a police station downtown from their house. Matt was sitting next to him with an overly large scarf wrapped around his neck that he sunk into to cover the bruise on his face. It had been healing very well, and lightened up since, but Matt was still very upset by it. Edd tried to help, and he did, but the panic about everything had yet to settle. 

Little chat was made between the two of them as they waited for someone to enter. They had been told to sit in the room and someone would come into speak with them. The room was very grey, with small switch lights hanging on the wall that wasn't a secret window. Most times, him and Matt would probably be getting yelled at by the people behind those windows for doing something stupid, but that vibe left along with Tom and Tord.

After the two had left, Edd was forced by himself to ask himself what the fuck had happened. Him and Matt spent that night watching incredibly horrible movies, but Matt was the only one actually paying attention. Edd just ate popcorn and reflected on everything that had happened to have possibly caused that, with no luck, of course. He didn't recall doing anything to cause them to leave, or overhear any plan of it, or them even getting along enough to leave together. He wanted to guess that they both immediately regretted leaving because they hated each other, but they were still out there somewhere. Or not. Maybe they died.

He really hoped they didn't.

He just couldn't wrap his head around it. What was actually happening? Matt tried to hand him an answer that he thought was obvious, but Edd honestly just wasn't having it. They couldn't have ran off together for what Matt said because it didn't make enough sense. He had personally seen with his own eyes many of their fights. Not arguments, fights. Some of the time it didn't even seem like a fight because one of them would just walk up to the other and do something horrible and painful and that would be that. 

He recalled the first time of that being the case was the time that Tom walked up behind Tord, who was pouring himself a glass of water, and dumped hot coffee down the back of his shirt. He still had no idea why Tom did that, but Tord was pissed off and very injured. He spent at least four hours after that in the bathroom, taking a cold bath like Edd had told him to do. 

The time after that was what he assumed was Tord trying to get revenge for the coffee incident by replacing all of Tom's alcohol with gasoline. He was sitting in the living room while Tord walked out of the kitchen and to the front yard one by one with every bottle, and he would come back with an empty bottle every time. Edd tried to ask what he was doing several times, but never found out until Tord walked out of the kitchen for the last time while carrying a red and yellow container from the gas station that was almost empty. After that, Tord even took the time to light an incense, along with opening the windows so that no one could smell it.

Edd forgot by the time that Tom went to get a bottle, and only remembered after hearing him start to choke and cough. His initial response was to run in and do something, so he did and that something was to yell for the man who caused the problem. Sure enough, Tord strolled into the kitchen way too calm while Tom was panicking and wheezing in every breath. Eventually, Matt also walked in to see what was happening, and at that time Edd was yelling at Tord and trying to hold Tom up. Matt thought that maybe Edd should try making him throw up, and it was only then Tord actually did anything about the situation.

Tord grabbed Tom by his hoodie and started dragging him towards the bathroom while mumbling something about how 'horrible they were at handling a victim of gasoline consumption.' Edd and Matt actually followed him and watched what he did because Tord insisted they should learn. He opened up the window in the bathroom before taking care of the actual problem. It was mostly just him wiping off the gasoline Tom had spilled on himself do to his coughing fit, and telling him not to vomit repeatedly, which seemed like homicide but he was assuring Tom that it would be worse if he did because it could cause him to 'aspirate gasoline into his lungs.' After about ten minutes of that, he told Edd to make sure he drank water and left back into the room the two had to share.

So yeah, he may not have let him die, but the likeliness of them leaving together for what Matt thought was not the case. 

He was drawn away from his thoughts by two men finally entering the room, neither of them wearing official uniforms and one of them looking very distressed. The one who looked distressed had somewhat-long, wavy, brown hair and eyebrows bigger than Edd's future. The other man looked far more professional, with hair about the same length as the other man, but straighter and parted down the middle. They were both wearing red, turtle-neck sweaters. The more professional one spoke first as he entered.

"Hello, I'm Paul and this is Patryck-" he was cut off by Patryck, who still seemed to be panicking and uncomfortable with the situation.

"-When I was twelve I peed on my dog." They had entered only ten seconds ago, and Edd already regretted coming in. Paul's expression dropped as he turned towards the other man. "All over his little dog face."

Paul looked down at the ground and heavily sighed before responding to whatever the hell just happened. "...They are supposed to be giving the confession, not you." He spoke quietly to characterize his disappointment. He was about to begin speaking again when Patryck did. 

"...They peed on my dog...?"

"No! They did not pee on your-" He seemed to be restraining himself from hitting the other man on the head, so he paused and took another deep breath before continuing. "My apologies, you're here for what reason exactly?" He pushed past the other man to sit across from them at a table and set out a folder and notepad. Patryck followed behind him, finally deciding to let him handle the job.

Matt was quick to start talking, despite that Edd had tried to tell him to let him speak while they were walking down here. "You have to help us find Tim and Todd-!"

"-Tom and Tord."

"-They took the car and punched my face, and we don't know where they are!" Edd tried not to be too loud as he let himself sigh. Though he knew what he was saying was true, he also knew Matt was great at making things sound more stupid than necessary. Matt continued speaking and Edd honestly wasn't sure why it wasn't keeping his attention. The room felt kind of muted to him, and a little foggy. However; the air was very clear and he was actually quite comfortable. "-and I want to hit him when he gets back." 

Paul looked bored with the speech Matt had given, so he glanced at Edd to find out if he was going to add on or not. Edd figured that he should explain what Matt said with more of the information that was actually helpful. "Matt and I had just gotten back from a trip out, and when we got back Tom punched Matt and they stole our car. Tord was carrying a brown suitcase, not sure if that's actually important... But uh, the car is a red Toyota Camry. Do you want a description of them, or..?"

The two men exchanged looks before Paul spoke again, seemingly amused. "Sure." To this, Patryck took the clipboard that Paul had in front of him, along with a pen, and looked at Edd expectantly. Paul threw Patryck a sideways glance before nodding and looking between Matt and Edd like he was trying to find out who was gonna speak first. Luckily, it was Edd.

"Uh, okay. Tom sorta has no eyes, either that or their just black and we aren't sure why..." Matt nodded at the statement. "He has really spikey hair that sorta looks like the top of a pineapple. Tord, he uh, has somewhat a gap in his teeth? And he is Norwegian. His hair looks sorta like he has two horns. Oh and, Tom is British... Also, they both have brown hair..." Edd was now just adding on after thoughts, but Patryck seemed to be writing it all down. Either that, or he was literally scribbling. "Tom is barely shorter than Tord, but you might not be able to tell because of how high his hair is... They also hate each other, so I'm not sure why they left together... Tom was wearing a blue hoodie when he left, and Tord was wearing a red one. They almost never take them off, so that might be important..."

Paul nodded once more. "What time did this happen exactly?"

Edd looked down, uncertain of the response he would get from him reporting this so late. "The morning about five days ago."

They did look disappointed by that, actually. Edd knew that it made their job much harder since he waited so long to do something about this. Nonetheless, Patryck was the one to respond this time. "Do either of them have any habits that we could try to work with?" Edd figured that they would try and find places that they could link to their habits and find out if they had been there. Matt spoke up this time.

"Tom really enjoys alcohol, Smirnoff to be exact. Tord smokes sometimes, but he doesn't seem to be addicted..." Matt looked over at Edd for approval on his answer, and Edd was content enough.

"Actually, I'm not sure if he was smoking a cigar or a blunt, because sometimes he talks about both..." 

"Do you have any idea where they could have went to?" Edd sighed again at this question. If he knew where they were, he wouldn't have been here talking to these two men. He set his frustration aside and thought about it. He knew that they took off on the east side, but he couldn't think of anywhere they could have stopped by there in town. Maybe paintball. That was over there, but the last time they all went together both Tom and Tord threw up several times. It was one of the few non-fatal fights they had gotten in, which was too see who could eat more of their complimentary rolls. They both lasted awhile, and did fairly well until Matt suggested they actually go on the floor and get the paint guns ready. It was tragic to see Tord vomit as soon as Tom shot him, and Tom must have vomited just in response to seeing Tord vomit. 

"...To the East. I can't think of any specific place they would go." 

"...Nowhere?" Paul asked this like he was surprised, and it made Edd wonder if they knew more than they were showing off. It was easy to push the idea down; however, do to how insane that was. Neither of them knew Tom or Tord as far as he knew. It was quiet for some time, with Edd and Matt looking at the two who were simply exchanging glances between one another. After some time, they both stood, with Edd and Matt following their lead. "Well, we will be sure to let you know if we find anything out. Until then, try to keep on the look out."

Then they were both brought back into the main entrance and began walking back home. It didn't seem like they had asked many questions, and they waited far too long for it to be that short. He was starting to think that they had no idea what they were actually doing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahck the next chapter I have big plans for. And I know it's been awhile and nothing super has happened, but relationshippy thingies are coming soon. Thanks for sticking with me so far, my dudes. Also, next chapter will be mostly light hearted at the beginning and upsetting at the end. But hey, it happens. It's gonna be such a long chapter though.


	7. Lets See How This Goes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jon guzzles milk and Tom is a badass.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys holy fUCK this chapter is long.
> 
> Song: No Buses by the Arctic Monkeys

It was probably about five in the morning now, and they were pulled over somewhere in the trees trying to sleep in the car. 

It was an easy set up, simple as pulling the back seat down flat and the front forward so they had more room to lay. The two of them were as far apart as possible, Tom nearest so that his back was against the trunk and Tord laying his back next to him. The sound of the other things living outside of the vehicle was annoying to both of them, and only seemed louder everytime Tord turned the heat off. It was because they were both freezing with no blankets that he kept turning it on and off, so that the car could heat up some, but then he would get concerned that it was wasting too much gas because in case you didn't know, turning on the heat drains it.

This was the third time in the last forty-five minutes the car has been parked that he went to turn it back off, which Tom thought was pointless since he could still see his breath when he exhaled, and Tord's as well since he was facing him. The only difference is that this time he also sat up to check the windows, feeling around the edges to see if there was any cracks. There wasn't, of course. 

Tord must have been exhausted, and it was very noticable. Tom saw it very clearly in the sigh he expelled and the way he let himself fall back down on the hard, makeshift platform beneath them. As much as he hated it, he felt kind of bad, even though it was sort of Tord's fault that they were here when they could have gone to a cheap hotel instead of a murder house in the middle of the woods. They had a mutual understanding between each other at this point, and it was easier to accidentally pity someone's lack of rest after nearly dying when the guy had also just saved his life. He still really hated the situation.

Tom blinked and looked over the man next to him. They were both wearing extra layers of clothes from what they had brought from their luggage that had moved to the front seat in order to stay warmer, but the attempt had little effect in what they were noticing. "...Why don't you try leaving the heat on a little longer? I could drive down to the nearest gas station while you get some sleep, yeah?" Tom's voice was almost gone from the previous abuse to his neck. Even with how dark it was out, Tom could still see how Tord scrunched his nose at the idea.

"Nah." He crossed his arms behind his head to get a more comfortable position, but went back to crossing his arms over his chest for what Tom assumed was for warmth. The Brit huffed once and continued to stare down the man next to him, who was looking back to the knobs on the dashboard in thought. It was really getting on Tom's nerves. They were both freezing, and Tord was probably wasting more gas by turning the heat on and off repeatedly every seven minutes when they could just let the car be warm. Letting Tom drive to the nearest town was probably the best idea, but Tord was being picky about not knowing what was happening if he slept with him on the wheel.

It was Tom's turn to sigh, a small cloud visible in front of him as he did. "Why is that?" 

Tord was actually quiet for only a moment while several thoughts ran through his head. One was that Tom shouldn't be taking that kind of responsibility if he had just almost died, and even though he knew that he could probably handle himself just fine, he was oddly concerned. Okay, maybe not oddly. A lot had happened during the short amount of time they had been on this trip, and it was about now for the Norsk to not be cautious about worrying for the other because there really wasn't anyone else either of them could trust now. 

He wasn't too concerned for caring a little bit, it was just a very foreign feeling when it was for Tom, and he figured that since Tom was worrying about his lack of sleep, he may have come to that conclusion as well. They were the only people they had now. At first, Tom probably could have gone back because Edd wouldn't want to press any charges, but Tord wouldn't have been able to either way, but after breaking an entering and killing someone not even Tom could. Or, of course, Tom could tell them that Tord was the one to kill him. He would be lying if he said that didn't make him mad.

With that in mind, he answered with his honest thoughts. "Didn't you just almost die or something?" Tord turned his head to see Tom make a face at him. "You probably shouldn't be driving. Actually, you should be sleeping."

"Well, I can't if it's gonna be this cold and you playing with the heat like that. Choose one." Tom stated this very bluntly, and Tord rolled his eyes before sitting up once more to turn the heat on. He lazily laid back down again, this time facing Tom, who seemed very content with the decision to have warmth.

Tord tried to look annoyed. "Happy?"

The Brit raised an eyebrow as he shifted to a position more comfortable since he wouldn't have to use his own body heat all night. This just meant that he didn't have to curl in on himself, and maybe he could take off one of his jackets to use as a makeshift pillow like Tord had. "More happy than not." He sounded sarcastic, and it was very fitting because it was only right now that he felt okay. He knew that tomorrow they would need to get back on the road, and he would be stressed out because they had so much more shit to deal with after they left the murder house. Things would be at a higher risk for him and Tord, and whatever Tord was trying to get away from.

But just right now, it was just okay to be in this tiny, cramped area, with his throat more sore than he ever could imagine, bruises all over, tired as hell with the guy he had despised since he came back from wherever he had gone. It was nice, even. So with that, he closed his eyes and let himself drift farther from reality the warmer he felt.

Tord mostly felt like the sleep he got was very ineffective, because it was like he blinked and then suddenly it was noon, and the car was way too fucking hot. Of course there had to be a gigantic change in temperature, so Tord sat up and looked over at Tom, who was still very asleep, and seemed incredibly disturbed by whatever he was dreaming about. Tord didn't care though, all he did was change the heat to a cooler setting so that he could go back to sleep comfortably and not disturb Tom by the change in sound of just turning the air off. Besides, this way it would actually cool off instead of just remaining the same.

He laid back down on his side, somewhat on his stomach, facing towards the Brit since his back was so sore from laying on the hard surface all night. It felt nice to close his eyes again, but he was finding it hard to sleep since his body was physically rested. It was more so his brain that felt so tired, and on normal circumstances he could have gone back to sleep just fine, but he also wasn't comfortable. Along with that, it was a trained instinct to plan the next course of action, even though he really didn't want to right now at all. Reluctantly, he let his eyes open again and his sight immediately set on Tom. 

The man across from him was still facing Tord like he had when he fell asleep. His eyes were closed in an almost distressed manner, and his shoulders heaving just a bit more than usual. Tord came to the conclusion that he was having trouble breathing, and it was appropriate to say the least. He reached his hand out experimentally, because this wasn't some cheesy scene in a romance novel. It would be a very simple task to refrain from running his fingers through Tom's hair, but he almost wanted to force himself to, and if there was anything he was good at it was forcing himself into things.

Now it wasn't a revolting idea, or else the idea wouldn't be there and being acted upon, it was just that the action seemed almost taboo. He couldn't recall ever touching his hair because pulling hair during fights just made the person scum, and besides that it was held as more of an affectionate thing. That in mind, this was not an affectionate act for Tord. 

But...

It was kinda nice. His hair was soft, and albeit kind of greecy, but he could definitely cut him some slack. He let his fingers stay just at the front of his hairline and watched his face to see if he would make any reaction, but when he didn't, Tord lightly ran his fingers the rest of the way through. Surprisingly, there was only one tangle to interrupt him, but all he had to do was cautiously work through it and then steadily repeat the action. He found it only a little strange of how soothing it was to just lay there and do that until he started to drift off again.

However; Tom found it just a little more strange to wake up to such a thing and not even caring. It felt comforting to have his hair being messed with, and he was too tired to really think about it. The only thing he really did as a reaction was tilt his head just a little to the side to get closer and allow the person more access, only for it to abruptly cease. "...why'd you stop?" Tom barely opened his eyes, the light coming in through the windows enough to make him immediately regret it, but he caught a glimpse of Tord's shocked expression. His eyes were wide like a deer caught in headlights, but slowly eased to a more relaxed state as he did continue.

It grimly exceeded being almost too comfortable for them. The sound of the ac buzzing gave them a good kind of quiet that resounded through the small space, and it felt clear and simple for just that moment. It felt safe, only they knew better than that. Tom's eyelids were partly open, looking out of the window on the opposite side of their heads. He felt kind of mad at the sun to have shown up and wake him.

"...Do I have to get up now?" His voice cracked in the middle of his sentence, a cough following right after. The lack of water he was drinking wasn't helping his throat any, and now that it was day the marks on his neck was far more visible. It was a brown kind of purple, heavy bruising darkening in the shape of finger tips around the left side of his neck. It looked painful, and Tord wanted to poke it just out of built in reflex from all the years of annoying and hurting Tom, but he restrained himself. He stopped running his hand through Tom's hair only a moment before proceeding after making up his mind.

"We probably should fill up the tank and get as far away from this place as we can." He decided that blunt was a perfect way to say it. He was sure Tom was on the same page as him with how quickly he shook Tord's hand off of him and sat up.

The Norsk followed the action and sat up as well before they started to prepare to leave. It took them a decent amount of time to get going due to how much they both didn't want to be awake, and all of the things they had to do. They needed to get their extra layers of clothes off that they had in order to bare the cold of the night, put the rest of the clothes back, pull the seats back to their regular places, and decide what they were gonna do. One look at the dashboard showed that the first stop needed to be a gas station, and it was only about a twenty minute drive before they arrived at one. 

Tord pulled into the parking lot, both of them beginning to unclip their seatbelts until the Brit was stopped. "Are you sure you want to go in?"

What kind of question was that? Tom stopped his action and looked up at the driver, a curious look across his features. "Yeah."

Tord was looking at him seriously with a confused expression. "Why don't you just stay in the car? I'll just be in and out." Tom glared at him this time. It made him feel like he was going to try to do something, but he couldn't think of what he could possibly do. He could leave, but Tom figured Tord would want the car if he were to do that, so he had no real idea. Or maybe Tord was still being too cautious with Tom's near death experience, but he wasn't sure how waiting in the car could help him if that was the case.

"...Okay." And with that, Tord was opening the car door and slamming it shut behind him.

Tom only watched him walk in through the door before focusing his attention on other things, like messing with the radio. Luckily for him, Tord wasn't stupid enough to turn the car off when he went inside, so he just turned on whatever shitty station they could get this far out from any town and put the music down really low. He was currently suffering from a headache and he had no doubt that blaring the radio would just make it worse.

After he decided a decent-ish station, he put his back just a bit more than it was previously before turning his sight back to the gas station windows, only to see Tord with his hands behind his back and someone who looked oddly familiar keeping him in place. He must have been in some form of a lock to not be able to fight the guy off, because Tord was usually pretty good at hitting people. 

Tom panicked. He had almost no clue what to do in this kind of situation except what he saw on the bad movies he, Matt, and Edd used to watch while Tord was gone. In those, usually the person would go charging in there with a gun, but Tord put it in the trunk, and the guy holding him down now had a phone in his hand. All that the Brit was seeing was a white T-shirt on the floor of the backseat, but then he remembered a genius scene in a movie that might just work for his situation, so he quickly grabbed it. His idea was to go in and make them think that he had a gun, and that was exactly what he was going to do.

He opened his door and got out more quickly than his head could catch up to, but readjusted quickly enough to walk up the gravel and into the small building. He had his arm inside of the shirt and positioned in a way that made him look like he was actually holding a gun, but it was total bullshit and he honestly just hoped he could pull it off. They would be absolutely fucked if he didn't get this right.

Upon entering, he saw that the guy holding him down was actually Eduardo and Jon was behind the counter not knowing what the fuck to do. Tom felt the same way. When the bell above the door rang, Eduardo looked up and pulled Tord into a different lock so that they could make eye contact. Tord was visibly distraught, but still had an almost pleading expression in his eyes as he looked at Tom. He figured that he should probably begin his facade. He held his arm up straight at Eduardo's head. It took a lot for Tom to make his voice sound loud and intimidating rather than quiet and damaged. "Let him go or I will blow your fucking head off!" Yeah, that hurt a lot. He put extra emphasis on the word 'fucking' to hopefully sound more dangerous, but he was pretty sure it just made his voice crack.

Tord opened his mouth to speak, but the dumb asshole holding him in a headlock of sorts pulled tighter, so only a choked noise came out until he just made a disappointed face and shut his mouth again. Eduardo just gave him a look that showed that he wasn't fucking having it and then let out a dumb laugh. Tom tried to keep his expression the same, but it was difficult to not just lose hope right then. "What are you trying to do? We all know there isn't anything there." Tom only returned with a daring glare. "Alright, what kind of gun is it?" 

Tom saw any hope that was left in Tord drain at that sentence when it was met with silence. Tom felt destroyed because how the fuck was he supposed to answer that? Tord knew damn well that he didn't actually have anything that could save them from this horrible situation, so he started spouting out some knowledge from a couple of documentaries he used to watch when he went to sleep until Tord moved back. "It's a Glock 17MB. Ambidextrous magazine catch. Recoil operated. 19 Round."

Tord gave him a look that directly translated to 'Yes, Tom,' and lucky for them Eduardo looked quite a bit frightened. He released Tord with a push, and Tom felt much more confident when the Norsk immediately stumbled to his side. There was no second of relief, however; because then the dumb fuck was trying to get his phone out of his pocket again. 

This had to be the most 'on the same page' moment that him and Tord would experience with each other because they both were already trying to get the phone away from him, which resulted in Tord throwing a satisfying punch at him and Tom almost tripping over himself to open a door next to the counter. Eduardo did in fact drop the phone on the ground from contact of the hit, and Tord was putting up quite an effort to shove him into the now accessable room, with Tom shutting it and holding it while Tord was searching for anything to keep it that way. Much to their surprise, Jon awkwardly coughed. Okay, well, that wasn't the surprising part. The surprising part was when he tossed the keys to Tom as soon as they made eye contact, and you bet your ass he used them.

After the mess was coming to a close, with Eduardo shouting from behind the door and Jon staring wide eyed at the two, they thought would be a good time to get a few breaths in. Tom also threw the shirt on the ground, revealing that it was in fact a lie. Tord walked back in front of the register to pick up the Eduardo's phone and put it into the pocket of his jeans. During this short amount of time, Jon spoke for the first time since they had been in there. "Everyone is looking for you, you know." That was some good information. Tord was just nodding while he rolled his neck to ease the pain that had just been acted on him. "...I don't like my life."

Tord looked over at him, standing a bit closer to Tom as he spoke. "So do something." Jon turned his head to look at the door where yelling was heard even louder, and then he turned back to the before giving them a really stupid looking grin and flipping the door off. It was a little sad how proud he seemed of that. "Nice one, Jon." Tom set a sideways glance on Tord. The Brit could tell he was finding that too entertaining. He could actually see Tord trying not to burst out laughing when Jon crossed to their side of the register and knocked off a basket of key rings that had previously been placed there for whatever the hell the sign said.

Tom was just really confused. 

He was confused as to why the hell Jon helped them, why the hell were they so far out here, where the fuck was Mark, and what the fuck Jon was doing. It appeared that Jon was now trying to drink an entire gallon of milk, he could see that, but for what purpose? He looked over at Tord again, but he was way too content seeing this guy do whatever this was. To Tord, it seemed to be entertainment, and it was really hilarious but he didn't want to get to caught up in this shit to forget what they actually came in for. So, Tom waited until Jon dropped the empty gallon of milk before talking. 

"Hey Jon, don't mean to interrupt this or anything," he looked down at the ground to see the mess that this guy had made and cleared his throat before continuing. "We came in for gas."

Jon stopped what he was doing and wiped his mouth. "Oh! Of course," he turned to grab a random array of snacks and placed them into Tord's arms, who now looked as confused as Tom. "Where are we going?"

"Uh, we?" Tord raised a brow at Jon's statement. 

"Yeah, I'm going with you." He stated this like it was obvious, but Tom and Tord both knew that wasn't gonna happen. Jon made his way back to the register before clicking a few buttons. "Get as much as we need!" Tord only nodded, giving Tom a knowing look before exiting to start filling the car. "Do you drink?" Tom turned his attention back to the man in front of him who was already grabbing several different bottles and handing them to Tom.

"Oh, okay." He wasn't one to complain about it. "Why are you guys here?"

Jon was still searching around for other things behind the register as he answered. "Oh, Eduardo wants to go on vacation and we were saving up. I took Mark's shift this time. I guess we won't be going on vacation." He laughed at the thought. Tom honestly felt bad at how much trust Jon had in them already, and they were just gonna leave. "You smoke?"

"Uh, sure." He had an idea. "Could you maybe grab the one with the black package on the top?" Tom pointed up at a random one he saw that he figured would do the trick. Jon nodded excitedly before reaching up to grab it, and when one glance outside showed that Tord had finished his task, he bolted out before Jon could even turn back around. And just like that, they were both back in the car and pulling out of the lot, Jon running out of the place just in time to see them get back on the road. 

Tord was laughing hysterically, making Tom worry that he would crash the car or drive off the road, but eventually he regained composure of himself and Tom started laughing as well, a painful burning sensation along with it that made him start wheezing instead. "That was awesome! You know there is a real gun in the trunk, right?" He was still laughing.

"Yeah, but you looked like you were having a bit of a situation. I didn't have time for that." Tom was also still laughing, which turned into a delightful cough. Tears began welling at the corner of his eyes, but he slowly began to get air back into his lungs and silence himself. The hum of the car filled in the open space and Tom got more comfortable as he heard Tord start to speak. He caught some of the beginning, mostly him just reveling in what just happened and him being impressed by Tom's mild gun knowledge. It was sorta fun to have done that, much more than the usual routine of getting distance and then sleeping somewhere. He wanted to actually do something, and he figured it might be worth a try. "Hey Tord."

He was aware that he totally just cut him off mid sentence. "Hm?"

"I think that we should actually do something." The waver and crack in his voice during that statement definitely made Tord think, and it didn't appear to be in his favor.

Tord looked at Tom and then back at the road in front of him. "Thomas, I seriously think you keep forgetting that you almost died last night." His voice was steady and serious, and it actually was starting to piss Tom off with how Tord kept concerning himself with him. If Tom didn't give a fuck then the last person that should is Tord. Besides, Tom had a fairly good response to that.

"I feel fine, it's just my throat." He lightly coughed. 

"We were also just informed that we are being searched for." Tord spoke like Tom didn't already know this. He was incredibly aware of that fact. "And I just killed someone, which only makes our chances worse. Oh, and we just robbed a gas station and got really close to this whole thing ending right then. I'm not sure if going out and doing things is the best idea.

"Okay, hear me out." Tord settled an unimpressed glare on the road ahead of him while he waited for Tom to state his side. "You are completely correct, alright?" The Norsk nodded in agreement. "But if we are ever going to do anything, now is the best time. After the police find out we were there, they will be searching even more thoroughly, but they haven't found out that we were there. Also, I doubt anyone has found that guy yet to link us to him anyway. Also, the only reason they knew we are wanted is because they know us, and you took the phone so it will probably be awhile until they can contact anyone to let them know we were there." 

Tord knew he was right, and doing something really did sound good. He was getting bored out of his mind just driving, and last night had been pretty fun up until the whole incident. He could feel Tom staring at him. "Fine! Alright, what do you even want to do?"

"Can't we just go into a town, park somewhere, and walk around to see what there is?"

"I guess so."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So holy hell there will be smut next chapter, along with a lot of really dumb things. Let me know what shit you want to see them do (they will be totally drunk).


	8. Almost Unexpected

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some sad, some stupid, and some smut.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided that Tord needs to be sober for this. It's for the next chapter. ALSO I HAVE NEVER BEEN VERY GOOD AT SMUT, JUST A WARNING. Also, this is the longest chapter thus far. Also Also, I haven't proof read this yet because I have a lot to do today, but I will as soon as I have the chance.
> 
> Song: Hot Knifer by Peach Pit

And suddenly Tom was face to face with a huge reason he left.

He really did like arcades; they were noisy, crowded, dark, retro music coming out of each individual game along with the button sounds just made something that he used to find find fun, maybe even comforting, so naturally his brain would shove terrible thoughts into his head to remind him of things that made him not feel like that. It made him feel alone and unwanted, and he really didn't want to feel that way right now. He should be competing for the top score on Pacman with the commie fuck sitting across from him, who was currently resetting the 'new' phone he got.

He really wished that he could just enjoy it, but everytime he looked up from the table he felt like a knife was twisting in his chest. 

Him, Edd, Matt, and Tord used to go to arcades all the time, but much less for Tom after the incident. He hated being reminded of just being tossed out like he was nothing, which he would agree with if anyone asked but he didn't think the people he called his friends would ever do something like that to him. The old arcade that they used to go to was burned down anyway, by none other than the spares all that time ago. Of course, he really shouldn't be thinking about it so much, Edd and Matt weren't even here and they were the main people to have tossed him out, but of course Tord never tried to stop them. It made sense, they hated each other at the time, and they were just now getting to where if Tord said they were friends, Tom might not correct him. 

Thank whatever god there could be that a flash from in front of him knocked him out of his thoughts. "Sorry." Tom almost smiled at the thick accent he heard hiding behind a phone, camera facing right at him so that he knew that he was being recorded at that moment. 

Tom pushed the phone to the table and saw Tord's shocked expression. Tom had no idea why the Norsk was recording him, but he assumed he had no idea his flash was on. "Fuck off, commie." The sudden darkness at the small tabe they were sitting at let the Brit know that he had ended the video. Tord's features relaxed as Tom lifted up the flask he had snuck in and took a large gulp before twisting the cap back on and stuffing it back into his jean pockets. He lifted his elbow onto the table and rested his chin on his hand as he watched Tord pick the phone back up and do whatever it was he was doing on it. 

"Thomas, your presence is required. Come here." Tom's expression barely changed besides that he quit studying the back of the phone to look up at Tord. 

"Why are you talking like Downton Abbey?"

Tord looked down at Tom for a moment before turning his attention back to the object in his hand. "I don't really want Jon as the wallpaper... Or lock screen... Or literally every photo in this gallery except for... Two dick pics." Tom was tempted to ask to see just out of curiosity, but decided against it and instead stood to go around the table and sit next to Tord. The man was already on the camera app, and the phone must have been pretty expensive for what good quality the photos were in with it being as dark as it was. Tord took about three pictures before shooing Tom away while he chose the wallpaper. He acted like a child that just got his first phone instead of the age he was with a phone he stole from a guy who probably wasn't still in a storage closet at a gas station.

Tom got his flask back out for another drink. He had no clue how long they would be in here, but if they had just spent half an hour sitting at a table he figured that he wasn't drunk enough. He was trying to distract himself from the stupid memories by being proud that him and Tord still hadn't gotten into an actual fight. It'd been what, four, five days? That was something he was shocked by, but has also ignored since they left. It felt like a lot longer than it actually was, but long enough for Edd to finally get concerned enough to try and find out where the hell they were. 

Tom had a sinking feeling that he wouldn't have contacted anyone if it was just Tom who left, and maybe in some other reality it was just him that left. He wondered what Tord would be doing right now if that were the case. Probably hentai and other weird things, maybe demolish Tom's side of what was their bedroom completely. He couldn't lie, that's probably what Tom would have done if for some reason Tord had left again. 

Tom took another much larger drink and hid it back in his pocket once more.

It was about five minutes until Tord finally put the phone back into his own pocket and across to Tom, who was still sitting in wait for the alcohol to kick in. It took him awhile to notice that Tord was staring at him. He looked like he wanted to day something, but wasn't sure what. "So. Wanna do something now, or are we just gonna sit here the whole time." Tom was still trying to realize that he couldn't hit Tord across the face for being a smart ass like that, just not good, but he would probably be doing something if Tord hadn't wanted to play with his phone. 

"Yeah, just give me a moment." he wanted the alcohol to hit him completely when he still sitting, otherwise he may start to struggle. Tord sighed. "Do you remember that time you put gasoline in my Smirnoff bottles?" Tord gave a characteristic smirk and nodded at him. "That sucked."

"You shouldn't have poured boiling coffee on my back. That scarred, you know. I haven't personally seen it, but Matt almost fainted once when he saw it." Tord responded.

"Well, he overreacts about everything. Too bad it didn't burn your skin off."

"Too bad you didn't vomit and inhale the gasoline."

"Too bad you didn't need skin replacement surgery."

"Too bad I didn't fill your bottles with bleach."

"Too bad you weren't facing me when I dumped the coffee on you."

"Too bad you didn't suffocate and die."

Tom couldn't think of another one, but he was pretty sure he got his point across. He took just one more drink before he finally stood up with a but of a stumble and looked at his surroundings again. It wasn't bad, and it'd get better as it progressed, or at least he hoped. Tord stood as well, and didn't feel like taking the time to wait for Tom to figure out what they were gonna do.

The first activity was competition for the top score in Space Invaders, which was Tord's idea since he pushed past Tom to get to it and the Brit just didn't feel like arguing about it. He was fine with Space Invaders, he just wasn't expecting them to have spent almost half an hour just on that one game. It wasn't like he was complaining though, he was only half drunk and he won.

Next was Tom's choice; a Rock Band game of sorts that was hiding in a corner after a long row of over-sized video games. The screen that they were supposed to look at was the same as the others, just a lot more wires connected to it for all of the different instruments including a bass/guitar, drums, microphone, and  keyboard. It wasn't even up for discussion of Tom getting the bass and Tord being stuck with drums since the other two were very not wanted. They spent even longer here than they did at the other because it was way too fun, and Tord was failing really badly on his part and kept trying to prove himself. Besides that, after almost every song some kids were waiting for their turn. 

The overall process was long because of the surprisingly large amount of people there, but they only left when Tom's flask was empty. Tord was almost upset by it until he remembered that they should in fact leave for many more reasons than that. With that in mind, they were both back in the car and Tom was already grabbing and another bottle. It was actually the first time in awhile that he was realizing how drunk he was getting. It was either because he had no idea what things he was drinking (but tasted a large amount if vodka in the one currently in his hand), or because he was aware of what he was thinking, and worse than that admitting it to himself.

It was absolutely the craziest thing ever to be hearing the man in the driver's seat talking, but not being to able to listen at all. Well, maybe that alone wasn't crazy, it was what was distracting him from listening. The amount of drunkness in him had to be really fucking high for him to be considering Tord as attractive in the slightest, and that was what was making him aware of it. He didn't even notice that he had been asked a question until the third time the Norsk repeated his name.

"Huh?" Tom rubbed a hand down his face in hope to get back into reality.

Tord was confused as hell, but also didn't care as much as he probably should have. "Where the fuck do you wanna go now." Tom did the most stupid thing ever and took another drink. Tord seemed a bit irritable at the moment, but it didn't stop  from saying something incredibly stupid.

"We should get tattoos!" Tom's voice slurred as he spoke, letting Tord know that Tom would be totally shitfaced by the end of the night. It was a really good thing he had decided not to drink because the two of them drunk and in public would definitely be the end of the fucking world. 

Tord sighed and looked back towards the road with an expression of surprise mixed with disbelief and amusement. "Classic, stupid Tom."

Tom really fucking hated that, so much in fact that he needed to look away and compose himself. It had been a pretty long time since he had heard that, and now he was getting all uneasy and worked up from it. The irony of the situation was thick in the atmosphere and Tom was actually pulling at his stupid button up shirt to ease the heat he was feeling. This was really depressing. He wasn't even attracted to guys, and now suddenly this shit was happening. He just thanked the fucking sky that Tord wasn't noticing. He took another much larger drink. "Definitive, unintelligent Tord." 

The man loudly exhaled out of his nose as a form of a laugh at the response he got. He was somewhat concerned that Tom would have hit him or something, but instead he was just looking away and responding much better than a punch to the face, considering Tord was driving and there were actually quite a fews cars around them. "Uh, homosapien possessing the given alias 'Tom' who is acutely characterised by his lack of intellectual ability."

Tom shot a confused glare at him. "You're stupid."

"Yeah okay, but seriously what do you want to do?"

Tord found the look Tom gave him amusing. "I said we should get tattoos, I want a Space Invaders one." Tom sounded so fucking serious and it was the funniest fucking thing that had happened all day, and he watched a man drink an entire gallon of milk in less that 50 seconds today. The thing about what Tom was saying is that Tord really wanted to see that, because he knew Tom would be so fucked off in the morning after seeing he got a fucking Space Invaders tattoo.

"Alright, lets find a fucking tattoo parlor." 

It was only forty-five minutes later that Tom was absolutely drunk and trying to tell a terrifying looking man what he wanted, but the guy wasn't very fluent in 'shitfaced British guy.' They were in an open room with a bunch of tattoo patterns all over the walls. Tord was standing next to the confused man as he watched Tom make exaggerated hand gestures to get his idea through, and the other man just nodding and looking back at Tord's stupid grin for any sign of what the fuck Tom was trying to say. He let another five minutes go by before translating.

"He wants a Space Invaders tattoo." He was trying not to laugh as he said that, and the giant smile Tom had when the request was finally understood made Tord wonder if the Brit's blood had been replaced with alcohol. 

The man got out a lot of bottles of what he assumed was ink, along with a tattoo gun. He seemed to have had everything set up already as he got out tiny, blue cup-looking things for holding the ink. "Color?" Tord thought about the man's question when it became apparent Tom didn't hear him, and was actually looking at Tord for a really long time and he couldn't ignore how fucking red his face was when Tord made eye contact with him.

"Hm... Maybe red. Yeah. Red." It was literally a decision based on what would piss Tom off the most when he saw it in the morning. The man nodded and put some ink in one of the cups. He pulled Tom's arm up onto a small table and circled an area on his skin as he looked at Tord for approval of where the tattoo would go. This time, Tord shook his head and pointed to his upper arm. He knew that would probably hurt like hell, and the pain he would feel would be the most comedic moment of his entire life. Just as expected, as soon as the man turned the gun on and pushed it to Tom's bicep his face contorted into one of pain and the first eligible thing he'd said since they were in here was officially 'fuck.'

The man had began the tattoo of Alien Two and Tom at least had enough sense to bite his lip than to keep yell from the pain, but he was tearing up some. He was bleeding a lot where the ink was being heavily applied, either that or he was just a messy tattoo artist. It didn't matter either way because Tom's eyes were still really wide and he looked really in pain. 

It was hilarious.

The guy must have went over the tattoo about three times before he was done and then did some shading. Tord was making light conversation with him about what he was doing, and the man was explaining that he was 'blood shading' which was where he was marking the skin to get the blood to rise to the surface. He wasn't gonna lie, it looked pretty neat.

The man wiped the tattoo with a damp cloth one last time before he set his gun down and turned it off. "Done." Tord wasn't expecting the guy to pat Tom on the back and tell him he did a good job, but he did. Tom looked very proud of himself afterwards as well, and was seemingly happy with how it turned out. He stood up and stumbled back towards Tord with a big grin on his face as the man explained to Tord how Tom should be taking care of it. About a week of washing it with cold water and soap was enough for him.

"Time to go-?"

Tom was way too quick to cut him off. "Tord, you should-get one too." He was really hyped. 

Tord wasn't necessarily against getting one, they had the money to, but he wouldn't be sure about what to get. They just came in so that Tom could get his stupid one, and then they would move on to the next thing. Tom was giving him a pleading look, but it looked like it fucking hurt. A lot. Maybe it was just the spot Tom got it, or maybe it was just because of how drunk he was. Tord looked back at the tattoo artist, who simply shrugged his shoulders and looked between the two of them. "Uh, I wouldn't know what to get." 

Tom glared at him. "I'll choose it." That was probably the worst idea that Tom had all day, and Tord was almost going to do it. He was really glad he wasn't drunk right now because that was tempting offer just by the story of it. Also, for some reason he wanted to make Tom happy, and that seemed like it definitely would.

Tord looked to the tattoo artist again and took a deep breath. He was probably about to make the worst decision ever. "If it's too stupid, don't do it." With that, he tore off his shirt and sat down where Tom was originally. He was vaguely aware that Tom was staring at him, and he almost liked it. Maybe he just liked the idea of it because it was so fucking taboo. Or perhaps it was just because it was Tom in general staring him up and down or getting confused about everything because of Tord specifically, and maybe it was just him but there was always a lot of tension. 

But that didn't matter right now because there was no way in hell anything would be acted upon and he was about to get a tattoo. Tom and the man were talking quietly, Tom not so much, about what he would be getting. It didn't put him on edge too much, but he was wondering if he would regret this as much as Tom would regret his. It didn't take too long for the man to replace the original needle and start whatever Tom had chosen for him. He chose the spot to be on the back of his shoulder, which as it turns out did hurt like hell.  The needle didn't feel that sharp, but it felt like it was going much farther into his skin than it actually was. He opted with biting his lip as well so he wouldn't go on a long chain of swearing. 

Thankfully, it was over before the tears welling up in his eyes had the chance to become known.

Tord turned his head to see what it was, and even though he couldn't get a view it was fairly clear to him that he now had a fucking Pacman tattoo. He supposed it could be way worse, figuring Tom would make him get something really dumb, or maybe the Soviet flag. He didn't know, just something else. However; he was fine with it. The man gave the speech on how to take care of the tattoos again before they went on their way. 

It was about six now and Tom was talking about a lot of different things. First it was the tattoos, then the weather (which he for some reason had a lot to say about), and how tired he was. After his alcohol levels were finally down some, they both agreed to just go find a hotel to stay at and the next day would be spent on the road the entire time. It was for the best for them to really focus on getting distance as of tomorrow.

Tom was still drunk, his words were now just easier to understand and Tord had cut him off from his supply. One way that he could definitely tell that he was still very drunk is that Tord was pretty sure Tom was flirting with him. The attempts were funny, and Tord was just laughing the entire time because he would totally be bringing that up tomorrow. One of his favorites so far was 'did it hurt when you fell from heaven, because I'm allergic to feathers.' He didn't even remember what context it was in at this point, he just remembers laughing way too fucking hard at it. 

The only thing was, Tord had no idea how to respond to anything that Tom was saying at all. He knew that it was just the alcohol talking, but they had been in the car for about ten minutes and Tom was now continuing to awkwardly comment on Tord. He was pretty sure that Tom just didn't know how to shut the fuck up, but again Tord sorta liked it. All this time they had been beating each other and damn near killing each other when Tom was actually maybe thinking this shit. He wasn't entirely certain if what the Brit was saying was a recent occurrence or if he had always accidentally thought like that, but he doubted it was the second. They had hated each other too much. The only reason he didn't know how to respond was because yeah Tom was drunk, but drunk words were sober thoughts. 

At least that's how he remembered that saying.

He pulled into the parking lot of an old hotel and got out of the car, Tom stumbling behind him as he opened the trunk to get another bottle of alcohol. Tord let him, he figured it was only six o'clock, it wasn't too much of an issue. He would either pass out as soon as they got inside, or it would eventually wear off. Either way, he doubted one more bottle would make much of a difference anyway. He had no idea it was possible to be that wrong.

Tord got his gun from the trunk as well as Tom's alcohol, just for good measure, and shoved it far into his pocket and lifted his shirt over it. Along with that, he grabbed a bag of chips from the trunk as well as the suitcase they had been carrying since the beginning, and they made their way into the building. Tord took notice of how close Tom was standing to him while he was talking to the lady at the front desk, so close that their hands were touching. He didn't care though, it was really to just scoot more to the side up until Tom actually grabbed his hand and intertwined their fingers. They looked really gay. After a moment, the lady handed them the key and they were navigating through the halls to find their room number.

It didn't take long to find room 221B and get inside where Tord threw the suitcase by the door and set his gun on the night stand. He shook Tom's hand from his own and threw himself on the bed. It wasn't even dark yet, but it had been a long day enough for him to be tired. Tom laid down next to him on the one bed they would be sharing again, both of them staring up at the ceiling for some quite some time until Tom sat up to open the last bottle and take a large drink before setting it on the ground by the foot of the bed. Tord thought about taking a drink but opted against it because he just didn't feel like doing all the work it took to get it. Besides, he had been drinking a lot lately and Tom was the alcoholic, not him.

Tord looked to his side to see Tom still having a staring contest with the ceiling. He figured that the tired portion of the alcohol was finally starting to get to him, thank god. "How drunk are you exactly?"

Tom quirked his eyebrow. "A lot."

Tord nodded. "That's not even a full sentence."

He was glad to see that Tom wasn't acting as crazy as he was before, although he knew that if Tom wasn't distracted enough he would probably start crying about something. Tom's voice was still strained as he spoke, probably just now realizing the damage he had done to it today. "Erm, I disagree with." Tord sighed at the poor pun. 

Tom finally looked away from the ceiling to smile at Tord, who just raised an eyebrow at him. The Brit scooted closer to him until his forehead was touching Tord's shoulder, but not on it. It was nice only a moment until Tord coughed once, really loudly, due to the smell of all the liquor. Tom didn't move though, and it didn't take long for Tord to get used to the scent anyway, it just took him off guard. He still had no idea what was happening in Tom's head, but it was proving his drunkenness even further. He would bet a lot of money that if Tom was sober he would throw up at just thinking about everything he was doing.

It was remotely quiet, only the sound of the TV from someone else's room. It really was a cheap hotel because they needed to even out the amount of money spent from today. It sucked that it would probably never happen again since the situation they were in had some issues. He heard a light sigh from next to him and felt the breath on his arm. "...Do you know how much Edd worried about you while you were gone?" Tord was really confused. He was silent too long and now Tom was thinking. A dangerous pass time.

"Hm?" He could almost taste the alcohol as Tom spoke.

"You didn't call, or text, even write," Tom cleared his throat. "No one knew where you were, who you were with, or how to find out. Then you just came back one day and they just accepted it, they just completely forgave you for that." He pushed himself closer to Tord, his head now actually on his shoulder instead of beside it. "I think that's why I hate you. You could go off and hurt everyone so bad and then come back and pretend nothing happened. You were gone too long to do that."

Tord was silent. He usually wasn't very good in confrontations, maybe if Tom were a bit more mad he could work with it, but he just seemed tired. He didn't know how to respond to that at all, so he remained silent in case Tom was going to continue. Tord lifted his hand to run his fingers back through Tom's hair because he didn't know what else to do and it wasn't like that was a foreign concept to them now.  He was just glad that the man wasn't crying or anything.

"He would try not to talk about it, but it was really bothering him. Matt forgot about you completely, you were gone for so long."

"I thought it was the memory eraser gun-"

"That's not the point, Tord. The point is you shouldn't have done that." He said that mire sternly, and it made him worry that they were about to get into a fight. "He missed you a lot. Hell, I did too. Only a little bit, it was just so quiet without you there." Tom let out a small laugh. "You know, I tried to throw your old hoodie into the fireplace and Edd wouldn't let me anywhere near it." 

"Tom, I didn't know it would have made that big if a difference-" Tom seemed keen to cutting Tord off. 

"How would you not know that? You were there since we were just kids and then you suddenly leave and don't tell anyone where you are or how to find you. You crushed him. And now we just did it again, and he is probably worried sick about you." Tord didn't really want to point it out, but he couldn't help but notice that Tom seemed to think that they would only be worried about him.

"You know they are worried about you too, don't throw that on me just because you can." Tom scoffed and pushed himself to where his head was now on Tord's chest and wrapped an arm around him as well. "Do you think they aren't?"

Tom nodded and sighed again. "Listen, I know I'm really drunk right now, and I'm not trying to have some kind of sob story, but I really don't really think so. You saw what happened when you came back. You took everything I had; my room, my friends, my home. And all you had to do was show up."

Now he really didn't know what to say, but he needed to think of something quick. He almost admired how they had gotten to the point to where Tord actually felt bad about what Tom was saying. The thing about it was that he knew it was true, but that didn't mean that Edd and Matt weren't worried about him at all. "...Tom, if I knew, or cared at the time-" He stopped talking when Tom sat up, arms now on either side of him as he glared.

"Yeah, whatever." And that was the last thing Tord heard before Tom pressed his lips against Tord's own.

It wasn't bad, just rather surprising. If Tord didn't know better he would think he got intoxicated just by the alcohol that was previously in Tom's mouth. It was a very light kiss, not too much power in it but definitely a bit of thought behind it. The Norsk wasn't sure what he thought of his entire being getting overcome by a tingling sensation starting at his lips and traveling throughout the rest of him. Tom's hand was conveniently placed on Tord's cheek, and Tord's hand was still in his hair, not doing much but staying there. His eyes weren't wide open, but they had yet to close and unfortunately he wasn't given the chance to close them since Tom was already pulling away.

Tord's hand suddenly tightened it's hold into Tom's hair as he yanked him back down, pulling him back into a much more passionate kiss than the one before. Tom lifted up one of his legs onto the other side of Tord so that he was now straddling him and enjoyed how the hand that wasn't knotted in his hair was pushing fingertips roughly into his hip. Tord was still failing to close his eyes and he was only mildly aware of how his pupils were dialating, and he knew he probably looked insane as hell but he really wanted to see what was happening as well as experience it. He pushed his tongue past Tom's lip with absolutely no resentment from the Brit. It was when he heard a soft groan that he decided he could go farther.

He moved both of his hands into the back pockets of Tom's jeans to pull their hips flush together. The man jerked forward at the action, but was far from moving away from him. He figured it was about time to shut his eyes when he felt Tom sloppily grind down on him, ultimately causing Tord's breathing to pick up it's pace as his hands slid back to their original position of hand on the waist and the other pulling Tom's head to the side to press his lips to the skin there. He felt a sense of pride at the shuddering breath that he heard once he but down on a particularly sensitive area underneath Tom's jawline. 

It's not like Tord thought about it a lot, but he had always figured that if this was ever going to happen it would be a bit angrier.

Tord was first to start pulling at the bottom of the man's shirt and lifting it up over his head and discarding it somewhere off the bed. He hated that he wasn't even the drunk one and he was trying to rush it the most. Tom did the same with Tord's, just with a bit more trouble and pulled back into another longer kiss.

The Norsk knew that if they were about to fuck then Tom would have no idea what he would be doing, and it would probably be too slow for his liking. With that in mind, Tord flipped their positions like he would usually do in a lot of their fights, except instead of raising his fist over Tom's face he planted his palms on his waist and placed rough kisses down his chest. It was a quick down and then back up to start whispering stupid things that meant absolutely nothing to either of them before rubbing him through his jeans. He started to wonder if maybe he was going a bit too fast for Tom, but the long, drawn out whine was enough to tell him that he might not have been going fast enough.

He had to take a moment to realize everything that was happening, it was just what his brain was telling him to do and it wasn't very often he didn't listen to what it was telling him. That was the whole reason he was in this situation, listening to his mind when it told him that things might not actually go as he wanted if he went with his original plan. As of now, he wasn't regretting it and almost pitied any other alternate version of himself that could have fucked this up.

Tom's fist found it's way into Tord's hair as he sucked on the man's adams apple and began to rid Tom of his jeans. He pulled them down as much as he could without breaking the contact he had on the rest of him, and Tom easily kicked them off the rest of the way before urging Tord to do the same, which he did. The half-lidded gaze of admiration Tord was receiving made him really want to get this moving forward. Tom sat up and pushed himself to the headboard of the bed when Tord licked his right hand and pushed it past the elastic of his boxers.

Tom's hand grasped at the back of the man's neck almost for support and pulled him up towards him to crash their mouths back together, both of their tongues out before the collision was even made. He released a shakey moan when Tord ran his thumb over the head of his dick and then down further to prod a finger at his entrance. He only circled around the outside of it until Tom was pulling his boxers off and spreading his legs for him to continue. Even with what was happening, he was still really shocked at the action, but he did use it to his advantage.

Since he still wasn't certain about how much he could get away with, Tord opted on putting three fingers into his own mouth before prepping Tom. The amount of unsanitary that was wasn't much of a bother when he saw the Brit arch his back when he finally got around to inserting one of his fingers, and it only went up from there as he pushed in a second, then third.

Tom's face was flushed red, small drops of sweat visible from the sun creeping through the blinds outside of their window, and heavily panting as he was trying to push himself further onto Tord's fingers. A loud moan erupted from him when Tord curled his index finger on a small whim that appeared to completely correct.

Tom watched him spit on his hand again and pull his own boxers down to coat his shaft before placing his head at Tom's entrance and shooting him a questioning, lust-filled look. Tom could only take half a second to appreciate the concern before he was furiously nodding his head and then felt himself begin to be filled up.

It took a good while to get Tom used to the feeling before pushing more in, and repeating the process until he had completely disappeared into him. Tom's expression was one contorted into pain and pleasure as Tord waited for him to give any signal that he was ready to continue, and that signal was Tom pulling him even closer and wrapping his legs around Tord's waist. His head was resting on his shoulder while Tord pulled back out, and then in once more. Tom's hand was stuck pulling at Tord's hair as he started trembling, and Tord was just trying to take everything and place it in a good spot in his memory.

It didn't take too long for his thrusts to get stronger and quicker, with Tom also pushing against him as much as he could and a warmth growing the pit of both of their stomachs. It became apparent that neither of them would be lasting very long.

Once Tord felt his finish growing nearer, he began to jerk Tom off as well as pick up his pace more. As Tom began to feel the same way, he pulled at Tord's hair in a way that would force him to make eye contact with Tom before pulling him in for one more deep kiss until they both finished.

Tord let himself rest his forehead against Tom's only a moment before finally pulling out of him completely and resting his body beside him. Both of them were breathing heavily as Tom slid down the headboard to lay on his back once more. Now they were in the same position as they were before this had happened, only on the opposite side of the bed. Long moments of mutual silence was shared between them before Tord finally spoke up. "...Sober you is going to regret that so much."

And they both fell asleep with awkward sentiment in the air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SEE NOT THAT GOOD. Critism is so very welcome right now, my dudes. Get ready for the next chapter though, because the drama is real.


	9. They Were Bound to Fight at Some Point

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom is salty and Tord is not having it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO EVERYONE! First off, shorter chapter than usual. I figured I'd give you guys a break from chapters over 4000 words. Second, SAY HI TO JASPYR. This wonderful person made an incredible offer to beta read the chapters before I post it so there will be much less errors for you guys when you are reading them. He also helps me decide the plot of chapters and where they should end, how to go about them, etc. Needless to say, I am very grateful to him. 
> 
> Song: Oh So You Are Off I See by Kane Strang

Tord had either woken up early the next morning, or incredibly late at night. The sun hadn't risen yet, but instead barely grazed over the horizon that was hardly visible from their hotel window. A chill was spread throughout the small room that was urging to him to pull the sheets up farther than his torso, and he did so with the grace of something that died a long time ago. He pulled the sheets up to his face and began drift back to sleep until he noticed a particular smell that he would have much rather dismissed, but instead he barely opened his eyes to glance around the area.

 

He was on the outer most side of the bed, facing towards the openness of the room. The first thing his eyes set on was the mini fridge standing right next to a small, grey chair, and right next to that was Tom. He was sitting in the space between the door and the chair, but leaning his back on the piece of furniture so that he was facing away from Tord. He was glad to see that the Brit was fully dressed, but when that happened, he wasn't sure. Tord thought of it as strange to see Tom in that kind of position without some kind of alcohol by his side, and he figured there would be if there was any left. Instead, a water bottle from the fridge took its place.

 

It was about the time that Tom stood up that anything else particularly caught his attention, and it was the way that Tom winced before fully standing up. The Brit was having a stare down with the door like he had the night Tord offered the two of them to leave, and he was only slightly concerned that Tom was thinking about doing something like that. Also, Tord was really tired. His eyelids seemed keen on keeping himself asleep, so the man would keep drifting off before awaking with a start every ten seconds, and everytime Tord would just stare at Tom until he repeated the process once more.

 

Tord barely noticed how Tom would be closer to the door by the time the process restarted, and didn't actually react until a noise cue went with the action. The sound of a twisting for knob was easy to pick out of the otherwise silent room, and Tord's eyes shot wide open. His mind completely threw away the previous things he had seen in favor of pretending he had just woken up. His voice was groggy and way lower than Tom had remembered it ever being. "...Tom, what are you doing?" 

 

That was a good question. What was he doing? Tom stopped in his tracks and took his hand away from the door before slowly turning around to see Tord offering him a lazy stare down. Tom was tempted to return it, but all he could muster was a glare. It was clear to see that Tom was upset, and they both knew exactly why. Tord wondered if should say something else, or leave it at what it was. The look he was receiving had him figuring it'd be best to shut up. 

 

The morning went on in absolute silence. Tom never answered his question, and Tord wasn't searching for closure on it since he thought he was quite sure he already knew. Tom was very obviously avoiding making eye contact with the Norsk as the man sat up to look around the floor for his clothes, which was very awkward for the both of them. Tord knew that this would end up happening, though he still didn't understand why it had to. To him, what had happened just happened and it really shouldn't have to be as big of a deal as people made these kinds of things out to be, but it was clear that Tom was not on the same page. He looked mad, but too afraid to actually say anything about it.

 

It wasn't until Tord got his shirt on that he decided to finally anything else. "...You okay?" No response. Tom was staring at the chair like it murdered his family, and it made Tord question whether he really wanted to be bugging Tom about the event that took place the day before. "You mad?" Tom was mad, and it was clear in his dark eyes as he finally looked back at Tord to give him the face of 'you stupid mother fucker.' It was about time for Tord to start giving a speech that would help with absolutely nothing. He gave a tired groan. "Look, Tom-"

 

"I don't wanna hear it. This sucks, we are never fucking talking about this. You're gonna put on pants, count the money in your wallet, and we are going to continue like this never happened." His voice was stern and strained, a combination Tord had grown accustomed to. "Now... Are there any pills?" Now his voice was soft and degraded. 

 

Tord shook his head and Tom groaned again, but still looked hopeful that the conversation was done there. "It will only be more awkward if we don't talk about it." Tord ran a hand down his face as he stood up from the bed to finish getting dressed; Tom just looked more pissed and averted looking at the Norsk.

 

"Oh, you wanna take a moment to acknowledge the situation? I was drunk, you were sober. Done." Tord closed his eyes as a form of getting himself to remain calm. Yeah, he was sober, but as far as he was concerned it could have been a lot worse.

 

When he finished dressing, he turned towards Tom and responded. "Is that really your whole issue here? Don't forget that you were the one who came onto me, Thomas." That was a lame excuse and he knew it, but he didn't know what else to say. "There are more problems than me being sober during us having se-"

 

Tord calling it out like that didn't settle well with the Brit, and it was obvious in the way Tom turned to throw his fist into the wall next to him and then made another turn to point an accusing finger at Tord. "I came onto you because I wasn't fucking thinking right, and you were! You should have stopped me, but you didn't. You can't throw that shit on me, I'm not fucking taking it!" The outburst didn't surprise Tord, but it did disappoint him. He knew exactly what was about to happen, and it wasn't going to be good.

 

Tord set a glare over the entirety of Tom. He couldn't argue with the logic of him being able to think correctly, but he could think up more excuses if he tried hard enough. "Tom, we were both tired, you were drunk, things happen-" 

 

"No they don't, or at least it shouldn't have! What the actual fuck were you thinking, Tord!?"

 

"I was thinking that you might be able to handle the situation like a fucking adult. Why the hell I thought that could happen, I don't fucking know!" Tord made dramatic hand gestures as he spoke.

 

"So what I'm hearing is that you wanted to not have to act mature about the situation so that you could blame me for not acting mature about the situation right now?" Tom was getting up in Tord's face like he did in most of their fights, and Tord was having trouble not punching him to get some space. "Good fucking job. This is your fault-"

 

"My fault-!? I didn't-"

 

Tom was the first one to throw a punch, and it was only a defense mechanism for Tord to catch his fist and throw one his own that landed harsh on the man's face. A large red welt was noticed on the side of Tom's face as as he caught himself before letting the blow of the hit drag him to the ground. The look Tord was receiving would have made any man step back right then, but he wasn't about to let Tom get the better of him, so he stayed tense until Tom lunged forward. 

 

Tord was met with a fist to the left side of his nose, causing him to stumble back and collide with the night stand next to the bed. One of the Norsk's hands began to search for anything on the small table that could be used, but all he could grasp onto was the neck of a small lamp. It would have to do.

 

His grip tightened around the metal, and after the third hit that Tom had done in the same spot (with blood now very evident on his fist), Tord brought up the lamp and slammed it into the back of Tom's head. The sound of glass breaking was loud in the silence of Tom stumbling backwards. He was bleeding from the side of his head and closing his eyes tightly in pain as he was already blindly rushing back into a fight.

 

He threw another punch that Tord was able to dodge and go under, and putting the Brit in position nearest to the wall. It was a fairly easy task from there for Tord to get one of his hands around Tom's neck and hold him there for a good while until Tom began clawing at his skin. 

 

Tord only released him seven seconds after when he realized he was actively choking him, and enough damage had been done to the man's throat (aside from all the bite marks and hickeys scattered about him). Another form of defense was deemed necessary until he saw that Tom hadn't moved when he was released besides hurling over and coughing, and yet again Tord was astonished that he cared even when there was a heavy flow of blood coming from his own nose. Tom grasped at his own shirt to hold over his mouth, the cold air seeming too harsh for him to properly breathe in. 

 

Tord wiped at the blood running down his chin with wide eyes as Tom continued his fit, leading to the Norsk having to back up before the Brit coughed out his lungs onto Tord's shoulder.

 

He wasn't going to say that Tom didn't deserve it, but he felt horrible at the way Tom was hurling over himself and sounding so close to vomiting. "Fuck, Tom-"

 

He was cut off by Tom holding up his hand to push Tord away while he tried to catch his breath. Tord stared wide eyed as Tom shoved past him and made his way to the door leading out of the room and opening it, flipping Tord off as he walked out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again, Jaspyr!


	10. This Sucks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom is gone for not even two hours and he has already gotten into trouble. Thank fuck Tord had a cell phone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo guys posting today because mY BIRTHDAY IS TOMORROW. But yeah thanks guys for reading thus far and stuff, I feel like yall should know there will be more smut at some point. Obviously. The first one was too quick and drunk, so next time needs to be more and them be on the same page.
> 
> Song: Alrighty Aphrodite by Peach Pit

Five minutes in and Tom was already regretting leaving.

 

After he slammed the door to the hotel room shut and heard the sound of breaking glass, so whatever Tord was doing, Tom was glad he wasn't in there for it. However; that isn't what made him regret his decision, it only helped him justify the cost after his stomach began to yell at him to fucking eat some food. Another obvious regret was that Tord had the keys to the car, so he would have to be walking and weren't they being searched for? This wasn't a great idea in hindsight, but Tom was too stubborn to admit it.

 

So here he was, wandering the streets of some sad looking town for a restaurant or gas station he could get something from. Everything looked rather dead, however; because apparently it was Sunday. 

 

Tom had always hated Sundays. The streets were always full of people going to church (not that he was bashing any religion, but it sucked when you were just trying to get from point A to B quickly), soccer moms complaining about how their sub needs more lettuce, how every place is closed, thinking about doing shit the next day. It wasn't necessarily his favorite day of the week. 

 

He was only two blocks away from the hotel, so he wasn't sure if he should go into the one open place he had seen thus far or look for another at a much greater distance. The emptiness of his stomach opted for him to go in to this one. It looked like a dollar store type of deal, but also had bongs and piercings as well as snacks and drinks. The bell above the door rang as soon as he entered, which made him begin to think of how the fuck he would get out with food and no money to pay for it. They now knew that he entered, and they would know when he exited. He thought of just turning to leave before the clerk had the chance to look at him, but his stomach was growling and he needed some advil for the aching all over his body from the previous day.

 

He seriously wished it was a much better story than that.

 

It was a huge mistake to have done what he did, and he did blame Tord for a lot of what happened, but Tom wasn't entirely innocent. Even in his head during the event he knew that he would regret it when he woke up, the alcohol just made him care less, but he remembered all of it. Why Tord would have wanted to fuck him after hearing some gross sob story, he had no idea. Hell, why Tord would want to fuck him, he had no idea. It was a pretty fucked up situation. Fuck no, this whole thing was a very fucked up situation. 

 

They had left the house, he punched Matt, they stole the car, Tom almost died, Tord killed the guy who almost killed Tom, they robbed a gas station, got tattoos (which was hurting Tom a lot at the moment), and now he was stuffing a fun size bag if chips in his jean pocket because he was stupid enough to leave the son of a bitch. No one saw him do it, or so he thought, but he figured that maybe he should look around more mainly due to him not wanting to look suspicious. Maybe he could even find something they didn't have and ask the clerk about it, so it would look like he came in for something they didn't stock and he could leave empty handed without it looking strange. He learned that from Tord, of course.

 

He recalled a trip to the movies wit him, Tord, Edd, and Matt. They had only brought enough money for their tickets, but realized soon after that they would be starving if they didn't bring in food (since theatre food costed way too much), so Tord made them walk to a dollar general claiming he had a plan. Everyone picked out something and stuffed it in Tord's hoodie pockets, and when they left Tord complained about how they didn't have any shower heads. It was dumb, but it did work and he would have to use it.

 

He walked through all the store isles and picked out anything small and edible, as well as a small bag that held three pairs of boxers, which he stuffed in his pants after his jean pockets were full. All together, he had gotten a bag of potato chips, a twinkie, and a can of spaghettios that had the peel open lid. Then he was on to look for something the store didn't hold. He went back through the entire store again to find that they didn't have any shower heads either. Maybe small stores just didn't have weird shit like that.

 

This wasn't Tom's first time stealing anything alone, he did it a lot when he was just a teen, but he was nervous as hell. He stuffed his hands in his pockets to try and hide how much they puffed out from the rest of him and walked back to the front of the store and to a lady at the register. She looked nice enough, with straight brown hair and a name tag that Tom was having trouble reading. He was standing behind a man that was finishing up grabbing his bags while he fumbled with the loose lining of his pockets until the man was walking out of the door. It was his turn.

 

"Hello sir, find everything okay?" She was looking at him expectantly, and Tom was already stuttering. He hated so much about this.

 

"Uh, yeah- um, actually, I-I'm looking for a-uh shower head. Mine got all rusted, it, uh, barely works anymore." That was a word vomit if he had ever heard one, and he had so many times in his life.

 

"Oh, I'm sorry. I think the store down the block has some?" She spoke kindly to him and it was putting him on edge.

 

"Alright, thank you." He turned to start heading out, with his heart literally trying to escape his chest while he wondered how the fuck he was actually getting away with this, but like all things that give hope, it must come to an end. It was just as he was walking out of the goddamn place that he had to remove his hands from his jean pockets, and his nervous, shakey ass fucking dropped the can of spaghettios when he went to open the door. Lovely.

 

The next thing he knew he was waiting in a tiny room with an upset looking man in a white button up. As he was on the phone calling whomever the fuck (Tom hoped to god it wasn't the police), the Brit was almost on the verge of what he thought was a panic attack. 

 

Tom was sitting in a very uncomfortable chair in front of the man's desk, looking over the white walls to try and find any form of a clear mind. It wasn't working. In fact, it put him on edge even more. It reminded him of things that were gross and official, and anything official with this situation would put him in jail for a lot more than taking ten bucks worth of shit from a dollar general. When they found out who he was, could he say that Tord killed the guy and robbed the gas station? Nevermind, that just made his chest hurt even worse. This sucks.

 

As much as he hated to admit it, in this one week he cared way more than he thought he ever could for the commie fuck, and he knew the feeling was mutual on the other end, or else none of anything would have happened. Some of it he wished hadn't, the most recent event, even though it had definitely been the most enjoyable at the time. He briefly wondered what would have happened if Tord hadn't responded the way he did, and that only made him wonder why he responded the way he did. His excuse was him being tired, but that still seemed very out of his element.

 

He was feeling even more anxious thinking about that on top of all the shit that was happening in the present, so he rested his gaze on a cork board behind the man who was still glaring at him while he was on the phone. Reading some of the news bulletins might help distract him for just a moment. The first thing he was reading was about some youth group holding a nerf gun war, and then something for a festival. It all seemed pretty boring, until the man in front of him reached for papers and gave him a clear view of a wanted poster for none other than Tord.

 

Not good.

 

The photo could not have been too recent, judging by the date that said it was about two months ago, of him standing with a blank expression in a large blue coat holding a fucking shotgun. He needed a moment to just take that in because that was a lot of information. Just what the actual fuck was Tord doing while he was gone? And holy shit on a hickey stick that was a very large reward for turning him in. He knew that his expression had just gotten even more freaked out than before, his eyes turning a bright white as the man gave him a questioning look before returning to filling out the paperwork in front of him. 

 

He kept darting his stare from the wanted poster, to the man, and to the door he could so easily run out of. His brain was screaming at him to get the hell out of there and go find Tord, walking out of that hotel room was his worst idea yet, but he couldn't fucking move. He just sat there, fiddling with his thumbs trying to figure out how the hell he could get out of this situation and be okay in the end. 

 

The man finally sat the phone down and turned to look at Tom. He was expecting some sort of scolding, but instead he was hit directly with the questions. "Name?"

 

Tom was so out of it he couldn't even comprehend what the guy was saying to him. "..huh?" Even with that one questioning sound he heard how shaky his voice was, his body jolting on cue at the realization. 

 

"What's your name, son?" Tom knew there was no way he was going to honestly answer that.

 

"Uh, Tim-Timothy Hidgewall." That was a weird last name, and he got it from looking at an address for an event that was coincidentally placed next next to a frightening picture of the man he had just left behind somewhere. 

 

"Timothy Hidgewall?" Tom nodded for too quickly. "Alright, do you have the money to pay for these here items?" This time he shook his head, but was quick to speak up to try and fix this. The last thing he wanted was for the police to get involved.

 

"I don't, but I-I know someone who could pay for it if you just have a phone." His voice was literally dead. It sounded like it was coated in rust, and the outside felt like it was swollen and bruised. A part of Tom knew that he may have deserved that, but another was pissed that Tord actually fought him back. He wasn't expecting it, as crazy as that was, but of course he had to go for his fucking throat. It wasn't only a new injury, but it worsened the one that was just barely healing before it as well.

 

The man stopped writing on the papers a moment as if he was in thought. "Well, somebody's gotta pay for it. I'll go get my phone, but if you move or your friend can't show it, I'm afraid I'll have to get the authorities involved." Thank fucking god. He stood and left Tom to the room alone. It was a quick decision to stand up, climb over the desk, and tear down the poster of Tord to shove it in his pocket, but he listened to the man's warning about leaving.

 

He returned moments later with a shitty flip phone and the phrase 'make it quick' before Tom was dialing Eduardo's number. It was a really good thing that Tord stole it, otherwise Tom would be being brought to a jailhouse right now and all because he was fucking hungry. They would have found out the rest later. He pressed the device up to his ear and chewed on his nails (something he hadn't done in a very long time) while he listened to it ring. At about twenty-three seconds in that he heard Tord's voice on the other end. "Who is it." Geez, Tord was demanding, but Tom was just glad to hear his voice. How long was he gone? Maybe an hour, hour and a half, and he had already gotten into this much trouble?

 

"Me." He made sure not to use his real name as his hands shook while he awaited a response. Nothing came. "I-uh- I'm in a bit of a predicament."

 

Tord was delayed in answering to what Tom was saying. "...Where are you?" The Brit couldn't help but notice how the Norski's voice was hoarse and faint sounding, probably from yelling at random shit or whatever he started breaking as soon as Tom was out the door.

 

"It's a dollar general just a few blocks down from the hotel. Bring some money-" he heard a click that indicated Tord hung up before Tom finished his sentence, but he didn't have to wait very long before there was the clerk standing at the door with the man.

 

It was probably the most relieving moment of his life when Tord handed the guy the amount of money he owed and they were able to walk out. The sound of the bells above the door was of great comfort while he walked next to Tord to wherever he had parked the car, and stealing small glances at him until he got the courage to take the poster crumbled up in his pocket and handed it to Tord, who was very confused up until he opened it. His eyes narrowed at the picture on it, and for the first time since he had left, Tord looked at him before crumbling the paper back up and stuffing it in his own pocket. 

 

"I'm not gonna leave you again..." 

 

"...Okay."

 

Heartwarming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANKS LOVE YA GUYS. Also, there is a really good story called Tension that yall should read JUST SAYING.


	11. It's Still Progress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edd is so fucking done, Matt just lets him do whatever makes him feel better because he doesn't know any better solution.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YO GUYS ANOTHER EARLY UPDATE. My bday was p lit, I made my parents get me a graduation cake to represent the dreams that will never happen.
> 
> Song: Overthinking by Acid Ghost

Edd hated so much about so many things at the moment.

 

Sundays had never been his favorite day, but it got significantly worse when two of his best friends were missing, it was way too hot out, he had to walk anywhere he needed to go, and he just wants a cold can of Cola to get him through it. He and Matt were walking back from the Local Shop for a trip to get some essentials, since every other place was too far to walk. He'd thought about asking for a ride, but they were on not-so-good terms with most people around. He honestly didn't know the name of the guy that always said hi to him, let alone have a way to get in contact, Tord ruined any relations they could have had with Bob after throwing his shoe at him, and Eduardo and his group were out somewhere trying to save up for a vacation.

 

The worst of it all was that the place they went to was out of Cola, and he had to compromise with a shitty can of Pepsi. Drinking it wasn't foreign, because though he did really like his Cola, sometimes he cheated on her with Pepsi, but Cola was a natural comfort drink and he was in desperate need of one. Matt hadn't been ignoring the problem, instead making it a huge topic, but Edd didn't mind as much as he should have. Matt was nice person to vent to because he usually had a lot to add onto it, and it was good for Edd to get some things out. So, Matt was a good outlet.

 

Something that they both had a lot to say about was how one of them, either Tom or Tord, took the money Edd had put up in case of emergency. He wondered what they were doing that would be considered an emergency, or why they had left, and so many other things. Matt's black eye had healed by now, but he would still talk about it, and gradually his whining about Tom punching him had turned more into an actual concern about the purpose of it. Neither of them could ever be sure why it happened unless they asked the two themselves.

 

Somewhere in Edd's thoughts, they had arrived back home, and even though Matt was talking, the house was too quiet. It was also still very strange to come home with just Matt and the lights still be off, or everything in place (since usually something would be broken from Tom and Tord fighting) and it was horrible. "...Edd?"

 

It was when he heard his name the last time Matt said it that he realised Matt had said it at least four different times. "Huh- what?"

 

"Are you alright? I was asking if you wanted to teach me how to play Zelda, but you weren't listening." Oh right. He forgot that he promised to teach Matt how to play Majora's Mask, despite Edd saying that it wasn't exactly something that could be 'taught' since the game offered a tutorial and he couldn't teach Matt to just be good at it, but all the same he had promised. Edd nodded, taking his hoodie to put it on the rack next to Tord's old black one, and began to take the bags he was holding into the kitchen. 

 

"Yeah, just let me put these up real quick-" He was interrupted by his phone buzzing in his pocket. He and Matt shared a look of confusion mixed with hope as the sound continued. The last time the phone rang it was Tom and Tord asking about a dog. It was the most confusing thing ever, but at least Edd knew they were okay. Matt looked at him expectantly as Edd reached into his pocket and answered before looking at the number. The groceries could wait. "...Hello?"

 

"It's Patryck, we got some news." Edd's eyes went wide as he was starting to feel excited already. This was the first bit of progress they would get since everything happened, and he was ecstatic to finally hear something. Matt took notice of Edd's expression and immediately rushed to his side while Edd began to put the officer on speakerphone. "Do you want the good news first, or the bad news?" He and Matt exchanged looks before Matt was already excitedly speaking.

 

"Good news, please!" 

 

"Alright, well we know where they should be near. We got a call from someone of the name Eduardo Meyer who was working at a gas station they robbed. It was down on 43 quite a ways away, but we are already on that. The bad news is-"

 

"Wait," Edd interjected him. "You said Eduardo?" After the response was a yes, Edd looked up at Matt again and gave a look that Matt could read fluently. He turned to the kitchen counter and opened up the junk drawer to find their neighbors' number. They had gotten it sometime after Edd lost his super powers, they were going to go do something as a symbol of their newfound alliance or something, but it never happened. Edd was overall fine with it.

 

"The bad news is..." Matt looked up from the drawer after finding the coupon the number was scribbled on and made his way back to Edd's side for the rest of it. "They could be potentially linked to a murder." Matt gasped dramatically as Edd was still trying to keep a steady mind at the information. "Darryl Holbrook, age 43. Died of a gunshot to the head. He was wrapped up in sheets with photos of his victims surrounding him, so if it helps any, the man wasn't innocent."

 

Edd felt like vomiting. "How do you know it could have been them?"

 

"Some of Thomas's blood was found a short distance away in a fire pit. We are assuming they were burning the evidence, but left before the fire went out so we found pieces of their hoodies that you told us about, along with blood on blue piece that hadn't been very badly burnt." 

 

Edd wasn't too keen on swearing, but "fuck." really fit his mood at the moment. "Was it self defense? What will happen when they get back? Will they go to jail-"

 

"We are assuming it was self defense, yes. We can get a lawyer to defend them in saying self defense, there is a lot of evidence to prove it. As for the rest of the crimes won't be too easy to fix like that. Do you plan on pressing charges for your car if they get back?"

 

That was the first time Matt ever actually saw Edd snap. He was usually good at staying calm, but he had been suppressing a lot of frustration as of late and that was the last straw. "What the fuck do you mean 'if?' They hate each other, they will be back-" Edd was yelling. Matt had no idea how to handle the situation because usually Edd always calmed everyone else down, and he was really good at it. In fact, Matt thinks he's only heard Edd swear maybe four times since they've know each other, but that was quickly going to five, then ten, up until Edd hung up on them. 

 

"You said they were on 43? Alright." Then he stuffed the phone in his pocket and looked over at Matt, who was still staring in shock. "Matt, how much money do you have?" 

 

"Uh- not much, maybe forty dollars-?" Edd began searching for something. He was opening up drawers, cabinets, and then gave up on them and went to search around his room, Matt shoving the number into his pocket before following close behind. His concern was high when Edd started throwing everything off his bed; sheets, blankets, pillows, and then the mattress itself so that it was only the box spring. Everything feel into place, however, when Matt spotted bills hidden between the two, and he came to Edd's aid in helping him get the entire mattress off.

 

Once it was off, Edd began to seem more calm. He started grabbing at the bills that were hiding in his bed and counting them, with Matt watching his friend with a concerned look. The calm only lasted a minute because after that, Edd was rushing back to the front door, throwing his hoodie on and getting ready to leave again.

 

"...Edd, what's happening?"

 

Edd swung the door open and stepped out, Matt by his side quickly after he realised Edd was still walking. "We are going to rent a car and go find Tom and Tord."

 

Matt could have said something about it; tell Edd to think a bit more, say that they didn't really know where they were going, tell him to let the professionals do their job, but for once Matt felt like it wasn't his place to say anything. So, he treaded behind Edd while they walked several miles to a car rental shop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pls leave comments this chapter, i would love to hear your thoughts or how you might think this is gonna go because I do have an end for this story, it will just be awhile. Love ya. Thank you for fuckin everything.


	12. We Good?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They realize they hate hating each other. Also, Edd.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually really hate how this chapter turned out. Some of Tord's past is revealed, but very lightly and underdetailed. We will come back to it later with Paul and Patryck, probably.
> 
> Song: Sweet FA by Peach Pit

Sometimes Tord forgot that Tom's life had gone on without him. He had this realization at ten o'clock at night while beating up a vending machine for a soda, and Tom kept warning him that it would fight back. It was some inside joke between Tom, Edd, and Matt that Tord wasn't a part of; some kind of film they had tried to create to get famous, but it didn't work out. Tord found himself getting frustrated with the fact that he wasn't in every adventure the three of them had together, but the thought of Matt being dumb enough to get beat up by a vending machine was hilarious. 

Tom stood a good five feet away while Tord gave another hard kick to the side of the machine, both of their eyes widening at the sound of the can being dropped for Tord to receive. It was when Tord cautiously backed away that Tom went to stand next to him to see what it was. They knew they had reached an all-time-low when they began to cheer for a measly can of Cream Soda.

A midnight trip to a broken vending machine outside of an abandon building was probably the most unnecessary thing that they could have done, but they were thirsty and in desperate need for a distraction.

It had been three days since the incident between the two, and Tom was quickly learning that Tord had been right; they should have talked about it. Every silence that had once been comfortable was now full of a tension that neither of them acknowledged, so sharing one bed at a hotel room this late in the night when neither of them were tired was nothing they wanted to take part in. Along with that, Tord was cutting Tom off of his alcohol supply for obvious reasons, and it was making Tom more irritable than usual. The thing about not being able to drink was that Tom was constantly reminded of the reason he couldn't, and he hated thinking about it.

The thing he really disliked about the entire situation was that he could remember all of it. It was the biggest thing that had him all caught up on what happened is that he had a vivid memory of it all. He remembered how amazing it felt, how it tasted, his own pathetic reactions to what the man was doing to him, how the sight of it could so easily push him over the edge, and especially how little hesitation was offered from Tord before it happened. It was also pretty stupid that he was staring the man up and down while thinking about it, and Tord had noticed; awkwardly coughing and stuffing the soda into his jean pocket. He opened his mouth to speak with an unreadable expression, but the phone in his pocket rang again.

The amount of times that phone had rang within the last few days was horrible. Neither of them recognized who it was, due to the fact that it was from a different number everytime. It led Tord to believe that it must be someone calling from different payphones, but they had never answered it to figure out. 

Tord took the phone out of his pocket to glance down at it before sighing and pressing decline. Tom kept telling him that he shouldn't do that because now the person that was calling knew that someone was seeing their calls, but Tord ignored it due to pure frustration of not being able to do anything else on it without being interrupted by an unknown caller ID. They both were beginning to think that it was Edd, but had no idea that it wasn't Eduardo. The word about the gas station robbery must've got out, and Edd wanted details.

Of course they knew it could have been anything, like a crazy ex, or a traveling sibling, but that phone was ringing about three times every hour, and once every two hours during the night. That meant that they were still on the road during the night, because Edd never put minutes on his own phone. 

Tord looked up from the ground and offered Tom a suggestive shrug for them to start walking back to the hotel they were staying at for the night. Oh right, they were walking now because they had crashed the car. It happened just the day before, Tom taking a chance in asking Tord about what the wanted poster was for, and Tord doing everything in his power to sidestep the question. Since Tom was being restricted from alcohol, he was far more irritable than he would've been had he been catering to his addiction. Long story short, Tord got punched in the face and they were about to have a fist fight while the Norsk was driving. 

After what had happened, it felt like all the progress they had made was completely thrown away, and Tord hated it. He was beginning to feel defeated with the entire situation, and he knew it was his own fault. Something that would help them greatly would be if he would just tell Tom the reason for him leaving, and the poster, because he felt that the real reason they were having issues again is because Tom had shared something way out of his element with Tord (drunk or not), and yet Tord couldn't tell him this.

Tom was still staring at him since Tord hadn't moved, and Tom had only taken about three steps before pausing again. The truth was, neither of them really felt like going back to the hotel. Their tradition for the past three days was avoiding eye contact, and passive aggressive talk towards one another. Both of them felt overly ready to get out of the slump, but didn't know how to go about it. The only plans they had at this point was to wake up early the next morning and find a car for Tord to try to hotwire. 

Tord finally began walking. Their hotel was only three blocks away, and not nearly far enough to tire them out so they could immediately go to bed and avoid each other once more (or at least as much as you could avoid someone you were sharing a bed with because it was sort of an unspoken law between them to sleep in the same bed). He was actually starting to consider trying to talk about it again, and Tom was almost there as well. They really hadn't realized how well they had been communicating until they were avoiding each other completely. 

The Norsk cleared his throat to earn Tom's attention before speaking. "You wanna maybe not go back to the hotel yet?" He raised his shoulders and tensed as he awaited a response.

"Okay."

At that, Tord stopped and turned to go the opposite direction, Tom sighing and following his lead. They had very little knowledge of what was around, though they had been at this place the longest (this would be the second night), so they knew some basic landmarks. Example: there was a park another three blocks down that Tord was currently heading to. 

The walk was slow paced and silent, the only sound being their shoes scuffing against the cracked road beneath them. Street lights illuminated the path in front of them while they took turns between staring at their shoes and stealing glances at each other. Tom was finding himself rather revolting and pathetic at the notice of how sweaty his palms had become. He knew that the topic was going to be brought up, and he wasn't going to stop it. Ignoring the issue was the worst decision he thinks he's ever made. The phone in Tord's pocket began to ring again, but this time he pushed down on the volume button so that it would be silent as opposed to simply hanging up.

Tord lifted his hand to the back of his neck and cleared his throat as Tom pushed past the metal fence around the park, and continued to brace himself for the conversation that was going to take place. 

"...You know what we're about to talk about, right?" Tord was always a pretty straight forward person and it was something that Tom could respect. He didn't take any time for small talk beforehand or build up the conversation when they were both already on the same page. It just didn't make any sense to waste time on nothing. 

That's something Tom had been doing a lot; thinking actually decent things about Tord and relating him to good things. One thing he had noticed was that the man spoke with a confidence Tom enjoyed; whether it was what they were going to do, what he was thinking about, even hentai, he spoke in a way that screamed that he knew exactly what he was saying and Tom didn't find it arrogant in the least. 

Another was that Tord was overall a humble person. He wasn't sure what that said about himself to think that of an absolute lunatic, but it was true. It was one of the most obvious facets he could point to when he thought about him. Along with that, he was an utterly genuine person. Some things that may seem rude and overall fucked up to say only made it stand out even more.

One of the things he had most noticed is how he was beginning to relate Tord with home. It was probably just the fact that he didn't exactly have a physical home anymore, but when the thought crossed his mind, it was Tord. Some of the phrases in his head had triggered the thought, like the day that Tord came and rescued him from being arrested and he stole that horrible poster from the cork board in the office. It was about then he realized how much of an actual comfort Tord was to him. He suddenly felt like throwing up. "Yeah. Lets just get this over with."

The Norsk nodded and followed in the playground after him. Tom's initial response was to sit down, so he found the platform of one of the sets and sat on top of a slide. It didn't take long for Tord to sit down next to him, but Tom was refusing to actually look up at him, so he waited.

It was clear to see that Tord didn't really know how to start out a conversation about this with Tom, but he had thought about it enough to get something out. "I think that the main thing that we should be concerning ourselves with is simply making sure that it doesn't happen again-"

"No fucking shit."

"And understanding that nothing romantic was meant towards each other. We have a lot of things to blame for what happened. Like alcohol-"

"You were sober."

Tord made his voice sterner. "And the fact that we had been spending an entire week with only ourselves, with no privacy, and tension build-up. A lot has happened since we left, and something like that was bound to happen at some point with the way our relationship had been before." Tom scoffed.

"Like hell something was 'bound to happen.'" Tord flinched at the change in Tom's tone towards him, and it was enough to calm Tom down a little bit. Tord had been doing that lately; flinching or changing topics instead of actually defending himself when the time came to it, even when Tom was trying to start a fight with him. It was weird to think that Tord could be trying to refrain from hurting Tom, but he supposed it was necessary. He remembered the first time seeing himself in a mirror since all of this started. 

They had just gotten back from the dollar general where Tom had his incident. His neck was a bright red and light purple from all of the damage done to it, and the amount of hickeys and bite marks that were present were something that made him feel like his knees were going to collapse from under him. Not only that, but his hair was an absolute mess, his eye bags were stronger than he had ever seen them, and he smelled like sweat and alcohol. He always thought that runaway people in the movies were supposed to look good. Fucking hell.

Tom softened his features. "Whatever. Neither of us planned for it to happen, or even thought about it. So lets just move on and stop acting so fucking stupid." 

"Nice." Tord sighed and leaned against the bars that were made to insure children didn't push each other off the equipment and took the soda out of his pocket. Tom heard him tap on the top of it three times before hearing the satisfying pop of it opening. The man next to him only took a small sip and let it burn in his throat before offering it to Tom, who took three large gulps before handing it back. This was going to be hell for Tord.

"So that's all? I expected that to be worse."

"I can tell."

The final bit of calm in the air made it feel like it could be Tom's turn in speaking. The topic on his mind, however, still being that goddamned poster. He could come up with quite a few reasons for Tord to be wanted somewhere, but he needed to know what the actual purpose was. The Brit sat himself up more on the equipment he was leaning his back on before speaking. "When are you going to tell me what the fuck is going on with you?" That probably wasn't the best way he could have worded it, he could tell by the look of confusion Tord tossed him.

It took a moment of staring at each other with no progress being made for Tom to make a dramatic gesture at Tord for him to quirk his eyebrow and then finally understand what he was referencing to. The man in front of him let out a sad laugh that sounded much louder than it was as it echoed through the air, and then lifted his eyes to meet Tom's voids.

This was about the point that Tord was sure he had to tell Tom. It was a realization that sounded a small 'click' in the back of his head that made everything that wasn't now flood back to him, and he didn't approve of it. He had started to like the now, aside from all the shit that's happened, but he supposed trauma brought people together. Him and Tom were walking proof. 

His shoulders slumped as he pushed the can of soda closer to Tom, who took the offer in taking a small drink before placing it back to its stationary position next to Tord's thigh. "You sure you wanna sit through it? It's pretty long, or- what part are you wanting to hear about?" How many parts were there? Well, he was gone for fucking years.

"I wanna know why you are wanted and why you needed to leave so soon after coming back."

That was a long story.

It took probably about a half hour for Tord to explain to Tom why he was on that poster, and Tom was having trouble understanding. He seemed to only be able to pick up small parts, like he was in the military, being a general there, and something about the Red Army (Tom could only relate that to communism). He explained that he came back for something he needed, and was going to do some shit and then leave again, but he had some kind of epiphany before going through with it. It was some glint in his eye that told Tom he was telling the truth, but also how Tord was pursing his lips was telling him that there was still more. That's when Tom started to ask more questions.

"What were you going to do?"

Tord took a sip of soda before handing it to Tom, who filled his mouth with the bevarage, and stared at Tom. "Giant robot." His accent was heavy on that one, and Tom would have wheezed if it weren't for that he had no idea what that meant. The struggle for him not to shoot soda from his nose was at high difficulty, and Tord noticed. He he let an amused look settle over his face as Tom failed staying serious and struggled to swallow his drink before bursting out laughing. The Norsk didn't find it nearly as funny, because Tom didn't even know the half of it, but he was eventually laughing along with him.

It was a nice moment to relieve the tension they had been dealing with the last three days, and Tord grasped onto the moment of not having to give a shit about anything. It was short lived, though, because it was then they heard a buzz from Tord's pocket, contrary to the regular loud ringing. They shared a confused look before Tord pulled it from his pocket and unlocked it, only for them to find a new message. Tord took another drink of soda before pushing on the icon and reading the message.

'Eduardo, it's Edd. I just got minutes on my phone, I really need you to call me. It's about Tom and Tord.

-Eddhead'

At least they could be certain it was Edd now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, so I still hate how this turned put but it's whatever. I'm honestly just ready for this story to progress, which will be this upcoming chapter for them to get back on track. I love your guys' comments, so maybe let me know what you would like to see or some theories on how you think this might be going? It's so interesting to see :)


	13. Low Hanging Fruit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Tord finds himself trying to impress Tom and then some bad shit happens. Also, poor Matt?
> 
> Song: Island in the Sun by Wheezer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH BOI DO I HAVE A SONG THAT SUMS UP THIS ENTIRE FUCKING STORY. I will put it on the last chapter and then you can cry as you see fit.

The fighting didn't end there like they had originally hoped, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it was before. 

Tord was trying to hotwire a car in the hotel parking lot, probably not the best choice, but it was already being done. Tom was already sitting in his rightful spot on the passenger seat while Tord played with a few unidentifiable chords. He had already gotten the plastic cover over the steering column off, and he was now hunting for the wiring harness connector. He pulled aside the battery, ignition, and starter wire bundle. He knew that one of those would be the primary power source for the ignition, he just wasn't sure which. 

Tom was switching between rushing him and scolding him as Tord put both the blue and red wires into his mouth to use his teeth to scrape the insulation from the battery wires and twisted the two together in the same manner. He connected the ignition wire to the battery wire, which turned on the dash lights and other electrical components of the car, and they both let out a sigh of relief. It seemed that Tom thought they were done, but he was proven wrong when he had to assault Tord with another scolding as he stripped the starter wire of it's outer coating and touched it to the end of the battery wires and caused small sparks to fly from it. Then, before it was too late, Tord revved up the engine and began driving.

"Fucking yes!" was Tord's victory shout as they pulled out of the lot unnoticed and shared a high-five. It was 6:14 in the morning (or at least that's what the stranger's dash was telling them), so they shouldn't have been so surprised. No one was up except for them and a tired man waiting at the front desk for any early-morning attendants' needs, but it felt way too good for them to not cheer at the victory.

Tom was smiling widely and actually looked proud of Tord for a small moment that was everything but interrupted by a question. "Where did you learn to do that?" Tord smiled. He didn't feel like going into detail on how he actually learned, since that was a skill achieved while he was away and the Norsk was still giving his best effort to keep everything as vague as possible. His army beginning to fail, how communism might not have been the greatest choice, and having a sudden change in mind on plans that took too fucking long to make was all he wanted Tom to know because too much of the truth was too much of a risk. Also, he kind of liked seeing Tom smile at him like that, so it wasn't like a little impressive lie would kill him.

"I learned that just now, as I did it." 

Tom scoffed at him. "You did not, that was too quick for you to be learning how to do it. We would be here for probably, like, fifteen minutes at least." Tord tossed Tom a sideways glance and raised a brow. "Wait, your serious?"

Tord felt pathetic for trying to impress Tom, but he was also smiling like a fucking idiot when Tom was giving him the reactions he wanted, though he didn't like to ponder on why. Why was a question that he had began to hate more than usual as of late, like why had his heart suddenly started to pound? Why was he grasping onto any moment of Tom's attention (because honestly, who else could Tom give it to)? Why had he been putting Tom so far ahead of him on his list of priorities? 

Recently, he had resorted to calling Tom pet names in Norwegian, which Tord figured was a coping mechanism for whatever had been happening with him lately. "You have little faith, kjærlighet." Tom wouldn't even question it, probably just figuring it was some insult everytime. Tord was okay with that, it was sort of the point of saying it in another language the other couldn't understand.

"Sure. Do we have any money left?" Tord removed one his hands from the steering wheel to check his pockets, only to find that there was only change by the sound of metal clinking together with a few bucks between. 

"Barely. I should do something about that soon." Tom nodded in agreement. He was perfectly fine leaving Tord in charge of their survival because he obviously knew what he was doing; Tom didn't. "Why?"

"Hungry." Of course. He doubted that Tom would be asking to get another tattoo anytime soon, and they had been eating the same chips for too long. He figured that they would probably end up going to the nearest gas station, getting something cheap, and maybe take some of the money there if he felt up to the task. It was too much of a risk for either of them to steal specific items, since the last time, but doing something more illegal felt easier to do. Tom supposed that after killing someone, other crimes seemed much easier.

The gas station they went to was only five minutes away and right at the edge of the town they were in. There was a brief discussion about who was going in, but Tom refused to stay in the car because of what happened the last time Tord went into a gas station alone, and Tord trying to tell him that he didn't exactly know what would happen if he turned the car off since it was hot wired. In the end, they both went in and left the car running. They would just have to be quick.

They both had items in their hands (of actually edible food rather than the food Tord thought would last longer, since it turned out they simply wouldn't eat it). Among them was shelves filled with a variety of unhealthy food such as chips, small cakes, bags of candies, and cookies. At that moment, Tord was fiddling with the lid of a bottle of iced coffee while Tom searched for whatever snack he was going to have to make last.

He hated it. Hot coffee was forever going to be better than cold, but he was tired as fuck and wasn't giving a shit at this very moment. He stood in front of the freezer section for a long while, looking stupid until Tom came back with what he had picked out. It was just a bag of Chex Mix. "Seriously? Coffee?"

Tord turned around to look at him. "Yep." A staring contest was almost started between the two until Tom swung open the door concealing the drinks and took one himself, thus scaring the hell out of Tord with the sudden action. "Hey- we can't both get one, it's too much money-"

"Well, I need something and you won't let me drink-" Tom began walking closer to the register. He was definitely having some major mood swing, which was happening increasingly often and Tord never knew why he would suddenly act like Tord's entire existence was offending him.

"You know exactly why-" Tord cut himself off this time, hearing the sound of bells at the front of the store that was accompanied by the sight of a person with a familiar green hoodie. He looked tired and absolutely defeated as he stood at the register. It was at this moment that the Norsk immediately moved behind one of the displays he was next to and tried to subtly hide behind. Edd and Matt both were standing where Tom was previously heading towards until he had turned around to yell at Tord, and- oh wait, Tom was still yelling at Tord and he had brought up a topic that really got the Brit pissed off. 

"That was not my fault! You were-"

"Thomas, get down." He was trying to speak calmly while Tom just stood in his place confused. The Brit opened his mouth to speak again, but Tord cut him off before he had the chance to draw anymore attention to himself. "Tom, for the love of god, you can have my coffee just get. the fuck. down."

And Tom obliged when he saw the serious look on the Norsk's face, quickly turning his head to see what Tord was staring at. The amount of time it took Tom to throw himself behind the display of soda was little to none. The fact that Edd and Matt were closer to catching them than the police was a scary awakening of where the world was headed. 

They both stayed silent, Tom honestly too scared to speak in fear of his old roommates hearing him and Tord listening in on what they were talking about. "I'm sorry, Matt, but we don't have enough for anything else." Tord could only see Edd, who was pulling a few bills from his pocket while Matt went in and out of his line of sight, presumably due to his dramatic whining about not getting whatever he wanted.

"But Edd-" Tom moved to look over Tord's shoulder to see Edd slam the money on the counter and shoot Matt a glare that had the ginger shutting his mouth and Tom and Tord both jumping slightly at the action. Seeing Edd act that way towards Matt of all people was shocking. Edd turned back to the man at the register, rubbing his eyes from lack of sleep until he heard Matt sniffle. It was at that point that Edd's eyes suddenly widened and he turned back towards Matt with a shocked and guilty expression. 

"Wait- shi- Matt, what did you want?" 

"I was just hungry..." 

Edd nodded rather quickly while he grabbed a variety of candies sitting on the counter in front of him and counted the remaining change in his pocket to add it to what he had already given. "I'm sorry, do you-? Could you try calling Eduardo one more time?" The other male finally moved into view as he took the phone from Edd's hand and the screen lit up on cue.

There was a panic that grew in Tom's chest as Matt dialed the numbers, slowly as a sign that Matt was being pouty, but a number closer by each passing second that Tord wasn't noticing what this meant. He lifted his palm to smack Tord on the back of the head, earning himself a dirty look until Tord snapped his attention back on Matt. Tom felt like he was about to scream until Tord finally put the pieces together that he had Eduardo's phone, thus reacting by grasping the phone in his right pocket and making a desperate attempt to get it out and turn the volume down before Matt could push the dial button, but he was too late.

"Well, fu-"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear I have a plan for this. You can get some nice Paul and Patryck shit real soon as well. You thought I forgot about them? You must be shitting yourself.


	14. Try Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Edd gets pissed, Tord gets cocky, and Matt and Tom are just confused.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is short, I am aware of that. Next chapter you folks will see some boys we haven't had enough of and it will be crazy and probably funny since it is them, but I have rewritten this chapter several times and I hope you don't mind that it is short. Next one I will have to fit a lot into, so it will be a much longer chapter. Sorry again.
> 
> Song: Pink Lemonade by The Wombats

Edd had thought about what was going to say to the two a lot when he found them; scolding them, hugging them, giving a long speech that had everyone bored put of their minds, but he hadn't expected it to be so soon and he didn't know how to react.

Matt blamed Tord, which was surprising since Tom had punched him in the face and yet he was siding with him, but after quite a few conversations between him and Matt, Edd agreed. The only thing they knew was Tom acting completely fine, then Tord comes back, Tom gets extremely depressed and hates him, and then in the short amount of time that him and Matt left, Tom had somehow decided that he was going to leave with Tord. So yes, Edd had began to blame Tord for a lot of things, but also himself for not listening to Tom when he was warning them that the Norsk was bad news.

And now the dumbass was hiding behind a fucking cola display in a low-run gas station. 

Tord was the first to come out from behind it, dragging a pissed off Tom by his elbow from behind him while he and Matt just stared in confusion and shock. Tom was glaring daggers at the man next to him, not unusual. What was unusual was how close together they were, with their upper-arms making contact and how Tord looked guilty and awkward. He kept shifting his eyes from Tom to him and Matt before he started stammering out some words and stepping closer to them, gesturing his arms outwards. "Edd, Matt, old friends, how have you-?"

"What the hell, Tord!?" Another unusual thing: Tord's eyes widened and he immediately stepped back to Tom; Tom didn't think it was strange. The Brit just seemed very unnerved by the situation, and stared at Edd in wonder of why he was yelling at Tord and not both of them. In fact, Edd didn't seem as mad when he flicked his vision onto Tom, but would designate a special scowl for when his eyes settled on Tord. "Where the hell have you guys been!?"

"Eh, uh, we- we've been... Uh-around?" The answer was murmured by Tord as Edd advanced on him, making it quite obvious to Tom that his old roommate was well beyond upset.

"'Around?' You've been 'around?' How did you guys even get here?" Edd pointed his finger accusingly at Tord, getting in his face as he continued to rant. "This is the second time you've done this, Tord. How the hell did you even manage to get Tom to leave with you?" He whirled his head around to look at Tom. "What the hell were you thinking?"

Tord actually looked pissed; so pissed, in fact, that when he opened his mouth to respond, Tom made sure to reply before he had a chance. The last thing he wanted was the two to get into a fight. "Um- a lot has changed, Edd."

Tom was surprised that Matt had somehow managed to stay quiet up to this point, but it didn't last long as he popped out from behind Edd to speak up for the first time since they saw each other. He looked directly at the Brit, a scared expression on his face as if he were waiting to be punched again. "...Just how much has changed?" 

Tom couldn't beat Tord this time. "Enough." 

Tord was right. He could tell by how Matt was looking at them like he had seen a ghost that enough had changed, and neither of them had really noticed besides the one obvious thing that he preferred to ignore, but being in front of his two old roommates made him very aware. Tom took one small step away from the man next to him, despite how the space between them felt toxic.

The way Tord was glaring at Matt caused the ginger to back up behind Edd again. The Norsk's eyes shifted, unwavering, back to Edd and the two were staring each other down like they were waiting on the other to make the first move. It was making Tom anxious until suddenly Edd broke his eye contact with Tord to look at him again, his expression unreadable. "Come on, Tom, we're going home." And then, he turned away like he expected Tom to simply follow the instructions he was given. 

That isn't what happened, however. Tom continued to stand where he was, looking confused as hell while Tord peered at him from the corner of his eye. 

Edd twisted his head back to look at the two again, his confidence about the situation suddenly narrowing down. "Tom?" 

Tord stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans and smirked at Tom, who looked at him to see the tail-end of and it somehow made him feel better about what was happening. It helped to see that Tord thought he was doing something correctly (yet he still wouldn't let him drive the fucking car). He turned his head back to look at Edd, the same expression in place as he spoke louder and more confidentially than Tom had heard the entirety of the time they had been gone. "You wanna try again?" Edd positioned himself to where he was face to face with Tord again, only now they were a good five feet apart. He looked confused. "Go ahead, give it another shot."

"...Tom?" He was looking at him hopefully, Matt behind him sharing the same expression. It was... Surprising. 

"Um- I, uh, um-"

"I don't think he wants to." Tord was freaking Tom out, in all honesty. His accent was thicker than usual, and he was getting in some sort of stance like he was preparing himself for something. Edd saw it too, it was obvious in the way he tensed. Most times that they saw Tord like this, he was about to pull out a gun and shoot, not always at people, but it was an early warning sign that he was about to start something, and it wasn't going to be good.

Edd began looking for something, patting all of his pockets until he reached the pocket in the back of his jeans that held his phone, then he took it out and handed it to Matt. "Call Paul and Patryck, let them know what we know. Tom, Tord- Can you both please just-"

"Did you say Paul and Patryck?" Tom took notice of how Tord's voice broke in the middle of that statement. Neither of the two responded, only looking between each other and back at the man who asked the question. "Alright." Then, he stepped forwards to Matt, easily grabbing the phone out of his hand and walking back to Tom, taking his wrist to lead them both to the front of the store, Tord not caring enough to pay for what they had gotten. 

The two behind them were staring dumbfounded at them, Edd beginning to go after them as Tord pushed open the exit door. "Wait-! What are you-?"

"Thanks Edd, Thomas needed a phone for in case we get separated!" And then the door shut and the two were bolting to a car they had never seen before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AGAIN I am so sorry that this chapter isn't better, but I hope you can live with this until the next update. Maybe let me know some theories you have on this? Tord is about to reach an all-time low in these next chapters, and it might hurt to imagine. You guys are awesome for staying this far, I'm really insecure about this chapter. I think I have like five drafts for it that I never used, but ya know.


	15. Later That Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pau and Pat, also Tord has a mental breakdown for once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took awhile to upload, I'll explain in the notes at the end.

"-Pau, I swear to you that I would have an easier time solving a rubics cube with nothing but my bare nipples than finding him."

"Well, we- uh, that is a strange comparison."

"Mhm." 

It had been around two weeks now, and Pau and Patryck were getting nowhere with any leads they had. Of course it was going to take awhile, they weren't even real police officers and the only skill they had was arguing and hitting things, but they had gotten really good evidence that inevitably led them no where. It was frustrating. Then, the only two people that knew anything about where they could be wasn't communicating with them anymore because Patryck wasn't great at choosing his words, so here they were. Two weeks late on this shit, driving around in the dark around where they found a wrecked Toyota Camry. 

It was flipped over on the side of the road between some trees with nothing but a bag of chips for the two, very unprofessional, men to work with. The only thing they knew from the chips is that Tom and Tord were probably long gone (judging by how stale they were), but Patryck insisted they stay on the road for awhile longer in case they missed anything. Pau was quite certain they didn't. 

But then, they hit a bump in the road. Something as small as this probably shouldn't be a deciding factor in how their life from here on will play out, but Pau supposed that luck came from misfortune in this case. So because of hitting that bump, it made Patryck swear again (like he had been doing a lot lately from being completely on edge from the search, plus some) and Pau scolding him. It wasn't like he never swore, he actually did a lot, it's just that he was beginning to get annoyed at Patryck's attitude the last few days.

In short, they got drunk and some things happened, and Patryck absolutely hated it. To Pau, it could have been a lot worse, considering it was only one kiss, but leave it to Patryck to start it and try to blame someone else for it. Since the man had been so on edge about the same, very small mistake he had made, Pau was pretty much over it. He told him that they needed to talk about it and get it out of the way, but obviously Patryck had to act like doing such a thing would be the end of the fucking world.

"Patryck, I swear to god if you don't calm down I'm going to hit you." 

"You wouldn't dare."

"I'm serious, stop acting like a fucking pussy and focus on the goddamn mission. For fuck sake. Things happen, deal with it." Patryck took the statement incorrectly; thinking that Pau was referring to the previously mentioned night rather than the shitty bump in the road that started the small match (which was what he was actually talking about). It really showed off where his attention was.

"The hell things like just happen! There was a very specific chain of events leading to that, and it wouldn't have happened if you hadn't-"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Finally, the misconception was realized and Patryck was going to back down due to pure embarrassment that what had happened a few nights ago was more fresh in his head than the bump in the road he was making such a big fuss about less than a minute ago. "...What were you talking about?"

Pau turned entirely in the shotgun seat, his back leaning on the door at a thirty-degree angle. "Dear god, really? Why would I be talking about that right now? Actually, why the fuck are you still thinking about it? It's not a big deal, we have something much more important to be focusing on right now, and that's where your head is? I mean-"

The man supposed it was his turn to go off about something, but any excuse to get out of it was also gladly taken, so Patryck was happy to be saved by the bell. Or, more specifically, the ringing of his cell phone. 

"...Who is it?"

"Uh," Patryck kept his eyes on the road while reaching his right hand into his pocket to take the phone out, then looking over the contact to see that it was Edd. He must have realized that he needed someone to keep him updated on where his 'friends' were. He had no idea where Edd stood with Tom, but he did know (thought) that Tord really didn't care about what happened to him. But then again he also knew that Tord didn't care about Tom. There was a lot of loose ends he couldn't be bothered to put together until they found him, wherever he was. "Edd." 

"Are we answering?" 

He probably wouldn't have answered if he wasn't desperately trying to find a way out of the conversation with Pau. The response was Patryck answering the call and pushing the phone to his ear. The only things was... It wasn't Edd on the other end. "Edd, we have some news. We just found your car-"

"Patryck, why the hell have you been telling Edd and Matt where we've been?" He almost crashed his own car when he heard that voice, car swerving to the other side of the road only a moment that scared the shit out of Pau. The man next to him was opening his mouth to complain, but Patryck was already explaining. 

He pulled the phone away from his mouth. "It's him."

"Who?"

"Red Leader."

Pau snatched the phone from his hand, lighting the screen up and pushing the speaker phone option on the call screen. "Hello?"

"Why the hell have you been telling Edd and Matt where we have been?" He sounded angry, but no doubt he was.

Patryck gave Pau a look that told him not to fuck up before the man responded. "They were the only ones who had any information on where you were... Where are you?" 

"You should know I'm not going to tell you that."

Patryck spoke this time. "Then what purpose are you calling for? And how did you get Edd's phone?" He usually wouldn't ask two questions in a row, because Tord hated it, but honestly it didn't seem like he could really do anything about it at the moment.

"I'm calling to tell you to stop looking for me."

Pau and Pat both looked at each other, a dumbfounded expression on both of them. "Eh, uh- you know we can't do that. We were sent out here by your second in command to find you because you never came back after you said you were going to 'do something incredible that will change everything as we know it.' Even if we wanted to stop looking for you, we can't."

A sigh was heard from the other end of the phone at Pau's words. "Is there no way to get ahold of Bones and tell him to call this off? Or tell them I'm dead?" 

"You two are all over The News, there is no way we would be able to sneak something like that past him. Besides that, the army is falling fast and we need you back. What is this sudden change in interest? What happened?" Another double question, just because he could.

"What would happen if you did find me?" Strange question, but appropriate. Just what was he trying to do?

"Well," Pau began, "We would have to get Edd and Matt on the scene to bring Tom back where he will be arrested, since we can't have any police after you, and we would take you back to lead us again." 

Patryck slammed his head on the steering wheel. He was very disappointed that Pau would do something as stupid as actually telling him what would happen.

"Tom would be arrested?"

"Mhm."

There was silence for nineteen seconds on the dot before a response was heard. "How about if we meet somewhere."

"What's the catch?" 

"Make sure Thomas doesn't get arrested." The two shared another look of thought. Neither of them could actually think of a way to keep that from happening, but then again they needed Tord back. They could either find way or fail the mission, but the man was offering to give in, they just didn't understand why that was the compromise.

"Alright, we will try our best, when and where-"

He already hung up.

___________________

Tom had no idea what was taking Tord so long. 

This was probably the last night they would be staying at a hotel for awhile because of Edd and Matt, so they were using money from a wallet that Tord supposedly 'found' and was down in the lobby getting a shit ton of food, but he was taking a really long time. It had been at least fifteen minutes so far and Tom was quickly realizing that watching television wasn't as fun when there was no one to make fun of the crappy programming with. Though, on the bright side, this hotel had a TV, and that was a step up for them. 

Tord figured that if this was the last night for a hotel that they might as well treat themselves, and who was Tom to refuse? And so, they got their small amount of belongings and made their way into this building. The walls were a dark beige, and the bed they were sharing was already a wreck because of Tom trying to get comfortable and Tord stealing all of the pillows. After that, he left to get the food and the only thing Tom didn't understand about it was why Tord brought the phone (Edd's old one) with him. 

Five minutes later and the man was finally back, throwing a variety of packaged foods on the bed and making his way to the other side to lay down next to Tom. The Brit sat up to look over the ridiculous amount of food Tord had gotten and was pleased to see at least six bags of chips, small oreo bags, and plenty of other snacks. "Hell yeah, did you clear out the machine?"

Tord shook his head.

"Looks like it." Tord didn't respond. He was just staring at the television in front of him with a blank expression, or maybe an upset expression. Hell, maybe it was a sad expression. Tom couldn't tell, Tord was usually really good at hiding literally everything about anything from anyone and it was almost impressive. 

The room was pretty dim, the only light coming from the TV and outside (where the sun was now setting) and it was making it difficult for the Brit to see the other man's face, and it looked like he was trying to hide it, which wasn't making Tom's task easier. What was his task? Find out if he should talk or stay quiet.

Tord adjusted himself to a more comfortable position, finally more visible to Tom. That was a good sign. "...So, what did you need that phone for?" Incredibly boring question, but he wasn't sure what else to say. In all honesty, he was just finding it strange that Tord hadn't spoken yet and the silence was putting him on edge, despite that Tord had probably only been in the room for two minutes.

The man made a face that directly translated to 'fuck,' then stood back up. He moved to where his face was out of view and then grabbed the remote that was previously laying on the front of the bed to push in a few numbers before retreating to the bathroom, with Tom just staring very confused at the door, but as soon as it shut a loud, female moan was heard from the television. He was so fucking concerned about whatever the fuck was happening.

Tom whirled his head to the device that was currently displaying pornographic imagery, and Tom needed a moment to take in that Tord had memorized the channel for this shit, but quickly regained his thoughts to try and figure out what was going on anymore. What he knew was that Tord came back, threw food at him, turned on porn, and then left. He had no clue why. 

The remote was still on the edge of the bed, so the first thing he deemed necessary was to turn the volume down on the bullshit that was playing and stand himself up, so he did. Then came the next question: what was he supposed to do now? He knew what he should do (leave it alone), but he already knew that he wasn't going to. In his head, he already decided that he was going to find out what Tord was doing and why he was so out of it, so he did the most reasonable thing he could think of.

Tom paced to the door as quietly as he could and listened, and for a moment, nothing happened. He had to get closer, and so he pressed his ear to the door, and he honestly wasn't very surprised to hear light sniffling. Tord having a mental breakdown had been a long time coming, and he was mostly shocked that it took this long, but it was still strange. In all of his time knowing Tord, he couldn't remember ever seeing him cry, and he supposed it was going to stay that way because he didn't want to get any deeper into it now that he knew what was going on. 

...But then again, Tom had at least three mental break downs since Tord came back and he had helped him through all of them, so maybe he should do something. He rested his hand on the doorknob and began to turn it, causing all of the noises to cease. He turned it the rest of the way until he heard a click, then pulled it open to see Tord sitting on the floor, wiping his face. 

"Hey." Nice job, Tom. That's obviously how you handle the situation. 

"...Hi, Tom." The bathroom was dark as hell, Tord obviously wasn't caring about seeing anything when he walked in. The man's voice was quiet compared to what it had been earlier that day and it was sorta upsetting. Tom pursed his lips before settling on on making his way closer and sitting down across from him. 

"So, uh, what's going on?" He was still doing horrible. 

Tord wiped his cheek with the back of his hand before finally looking up at Tom. "Sorry."

"Wait, why are you apologizing? You didn't do anything this time. Actually, you did alright this time. You got food, and that's all I've ever wanted. Why are you saying sorry?" 

"No, just, I- um. Sorry." His voice broke in that sentence and he threw his head back down again and Tom could hear the sound of strangled sobbing. Tord was trying really hard not to cry, but it was inevitably failing.

Tord really hated himself in this moment. His eyes burned from trying to hold back his tears and Tom was in front of him just watching. It felt horrible, and for a single second he thought he might actually die. He wished that the world could just block him out, because Tom trying to help him just made him want to cry more. Tom shouldn't have to be helping.

Then Tom scooted closer to him and put his hand on his shoulder, and that was enough for Tord to start shamelessly sobbing. He pulled Tom closer to himself and wrapped his arms around his shoulders, burying his face into his shoulder. Tom just went with it and let Tord sob. He figured he needed it. He understood why Tord was having a breakdown, a lot was happening and the stress was really fucking him up, but he didn't understand why the hell he kept apologizing to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the reason this took so long to publish is because summer just started and I finally got a god damn job. My schedule has been pretty filled up, because since I'm a gay fifteen year old male (I'm not even fully gay sorry jesus you get it) what I do takes too much time and too little money. I will still be updating, but please be patient with me, thank you!
> 
> Also, if you leave comment, or some constructive critism, I will love you forever.


	16. Welp.

Hey guys, how's it hanging? (That's what she said) I'm incredibly sorry that this isn't an update. Basically, a new chapter was going to come out last night, but as some of you know I write the chapters on Wattpad. I'm telling you this because yesterday when I decided to try and finish up the chapter, I realized that my entire account got deleted. It was infuriating to say the least, since I was in about 4000 words.

This will probably be the only author's note I do because, well, I don't want to make it a habit. I'm basically just trying to say that you may have to wait a bit longer for the next chapter than usual. I'm not going to leave this story, ever, because it's only a few chapters away from getting a conclusion and I have so many plans for this that have yet to be revealed. It's just hard with how busy I have been and a lot of unresolved personal issues, and I'm trying to get amincipated. 

Maybe in the comments you can comment some songs that you think remind you of this? It will be nice to go through some things that you relate to this story, and frankly pretty neat. The next chapter will probably be up in no longer than a few weeks. I'm still really sorry, and I hope this doesn't make me lose any of you guys.

Anyway, stay nifty.

-TurboSoggy


	17. Something is Going on: What Did Pau Say? The Tord Story, With Tom.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom over hears an important phone call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, if you understood the reference of the chapter title, you are perfect. Second, this chapter is about 3000 words, which would usually be underwhelming if it weren't for how estatic I am about how this turned out. I think I'm glad that I lost the last chapter because this turned out much cleaner and had more of an importance to the plot, as the last one was half smut. Yeah, the last chapter was going to start with Tord having a wet dream about Tom, but I decided against that, so if you want to imagine this chapter with Tord having just woken up with something like that, be my guest. I haven't gotten the chance to proof read this yet, by the way.
> 
> Song: Better For Me by Fake Laugh

“-I just need five days… No, five.” That’s what Tom woke up to the next morning. Tord was standing in the hotel bathroom with the door cracked, so that Tom couldn’t really see him except for when he peeked his head out to check if Tom was still sleeping, but of course he wasn’t. He would have probably gone back to bed if it weren’t for the question of what Tord was doing. “Where do you want to meet?... Yeah, of course I remember Yuu... He’s here? Wow.”

Tom heard some scrambling before he shut his eyes mostly closed as Tord quietly stepped out of the bathroom. He stalked to the dresser the hotel had the television sitting on and cautiously opened a drawer, and Tom saw that he grabbed a pen. The man walked back through the bathroom door the same way he walked out. He heard the tear of toilet paper and could barely see Tord moving back to the sink. 

“...What’s the address?...” The pen trying it's best to put its ink onto the soft paper was recognizable, as well as the struggle Tord must've been having according to the repeating noises of letter being rewritten several times. “...And that’s all, right? He’s not far... Okay.” Tord poked his head through the door to check on Tom once more, who shut his eyes in response. “...What about Tom?” The Brit stiffened at his name. He knew that he was in whatever was happening by default, but what did Tord mean exactly? What was going to happen to Tom? “Do you know what you're going to do with him?... I’m not going back if Tom goes to jail.”

Tom’s eyes went white. Hold the fucking phone, where was Tord supposed to be going back to? Who the hell was trying to put Tom in jail? 

“You have five days to figure it out.” Tom noticed that Tord’s voice went lower, and now that he was thinking about it, he was talking much different to whomever was on the other end of the phone than Tom was used to hearing. If Tord talked to him like that, he would probably listen to the man more often. It was obvious that he was giving demands to someone, so maybe it was one of the people he worked with when he was away. Tom didn’t really know much about it. 

A voice boomed out of the phone so loud that Tom could understand what the man was saying. “HE CAN DO IT IN FOUR!” The volume of the words had Tord looking back in Tom’s direction, and Tom took the chance to let himself roll over like he was disturbed but still very asleep. The Norsk cursed under his breath and continued to put the phone back to his ear, and at least thirty seconds of silence followed suite.

“...Why do you need to get ahold of Edd? We have his phone… Oh. I’m not sure that Tom could go back there unless he… Matt might have a number, I’m not entirely sure. Last I knew, he had no cell service, but you're welcome to try… Well, they will probably be trying to get in contact with you anyway, since you told them you were the police…” The person on the other end was taking a long time talking again. “... Tell them I did everything and that Tom was only dragged along... He doesn’t deserve that… let him go back to Edd, maybe even bring them with you so that he can get out of there as soon as possible.”

The room was quiet a few long moments before Tom gathered that Tord was off the call. Now he just had to wait for a good time to ‘wake up.’ It was just going to be another thing that Tom knew that Tord thought he didn't, like how Tord was swearing at him in Norwegian (it wasn’t like he knew what he was saying, but he had already been called every Norwegian swear word in the book and he could recognize that what Tord was saying wasn’t those), or how some nights Tord would drop his arm possessively over Tom’s waist when he thought he was sleeping. It was all things Tom would far rather ignore than to bring it up, but he couldn’t just let what he had heard sit in the back of his knowledge. He had to bring it up at some point.

Tord was standing in front of the mirror with his palms resting against the edge of the sink, but he was looking forward. He was looking down with a prominent frown on his face that looked more sad than angry, but then he moved out of his view. When he came back, he opened the bathroom door all the way and was holding something that Tom didn't get to see from him closing his eyes again. He heard Tord lay whatever it was down on the side table on his side of the bed, and that was it. He didn't hear Tord walk away, so he must've still been standing there.

He took the chance to very carefully peek through his eyelids at the man, who was still very in front of him. Tord was looking down at him and Tom could see the tired expression he was wearing. He brought his hand up to rub the sleep out of his left eye before really actually doing anything. “...Sorry.” And that was it. It was the most spoken word that Tom had been able to get out of him since last night, and he thought he might understand it now. Tord was going to leave him again, but he was making sure that he would be okay this time. He couldn't figure out if the way to describe was like being stabbed in the back or a knife twisting in his chest, but it didn't feel good either way. Tord cleared his throat and lightly pushed Tom’s shoulder. “Thomas, wake up.”

Tom simply pushed his hand away and rolled onto his other side. It's probably what he would've done had he not already had been awake. 

“Wake up, there's breakfast downstairs in this place.” 

Tom’s voice was muffled behind pillows when he responded. “...Is it free?” 

“Yes.” There was his excuse to finally be awake. 

Tom sat up rather quickly in the bed before pushing the blankets off of him and throwing his legs over the side of the bed. That was about all that he could muster before rubbing the sleep out of his own eyes and looking back at Tord who had since walked back to his side of the bed to grab their suitcase. They were going to leave early this time, weren't they? 

“I found some clothes in the trunk of the car, I think they're clean.” That's what he had set down. Tom looked on the night table where the clothes were and registered it into his brain that Tord was also wearing different clothes. A white tank and grey sweatpants, it was nothing that needed to be described in detail. The Brit nodded and took the items in hand before managing to sit up and get dressed in it. The clothes was black sweatpants and a blue hoodie similar to his old one, but had a Nike symbol on the front that felt off-putting. It was almost strange how Tord was just on a call with someone talking about how Tom was going to go back with Edd and Matt and then he gets clothes replicating before they had left. It was like preparation; or a subtle hint. It was disgusting, but still more comfortable than the button-up he had been wearing. 

He lifted the shirt above his head right there, not bothering to leave or hassle with the buttons. He didn’t care enough, either. Though he had only just woke up, he could already tell that today wasn’t going to be a great one. The previous shirt was laid beside him now as he began the process of seeing if he could fit into the new hoodie, and he could feel Tord staring at him. It was obvious to him because, even though his back was turned, the rustling of the items in the suitcase stopped. It must've been horrible that it gave him a gross sense of pride. 

The hoodie fit fine, and he honestly would have wore it even if it didn't. He didn't really care at this point. Whatever was happening was going to end in five days, and that much was obvious to him. Any dolt with half a brain could figure that one out, he just wasn't a fan of how much it hurt him. Tom stood up to remove his pants, then turned to grab the new pair that was laying on the mattress, and yes. Tord was staring at him, and he could swear that his face was a bit red, but he didn't get a good look because the man immediately looked away.

“There's a bathroom.”

Tom shrugged and pulled his new pants up the rest of the way, then proceeded to give Tord a bored expression. “It’s nothing you haven't seen before.” Then he turned away like the statement was nothing, and the way that Tord slammed the case shut and latched it showed that it didn't sit well in the air, or that it was bothersome at the least. “When are we leaving?”

“For… Breakfast?”

“For the day.” 

“Uh, probably after breakfast, which we can go to now if your really wanting to.” Tom only shrugged again. He seriously wasn’t worried about breakfast, he thought that maybe he just wanted Tord to hear the tone of his voice. He was trying to get something across, but not even he was sure what it was. It was some sort of sensation he felt in the back of his throat that made him unsure if he needed to cry or vomit. Maybe he just wanted Tord to know he was disappointed in the thing he doesn't know he knows. Yup, that sounded about right. “I think I might have a place we can stay at for awhile.” There it was, the beginning of his plot unfolding.

“Really? That took long enough. How long would we be there? A week? Maybe five days? Doesn’t matter, it's all your call anyway.” He wasn't meaning to respond the way he was, honestly, but he also didn't care enough to stop it. Tord probably thought that Tom was just going through withdrawal symptoms from not having any alcohol for about two weeks. He wasn't wrong, but Tom was usually pretty good at not having alcohol.

There was a pattern that Tom seemed to follow when it came to withdrawal. He would drink for until Edd would get concerned and make him stop for awhile, and he would. Things would be okay, but then something would happen that would have him drinking again and it'd be bad until Edd made him stop again. Usually when he stopped drinking, it’d be for a good month, and then things would get bad. About once every six months, the ‘get bad’ would evolve into ‘get really bad.’ When Tord came back he swan dived in the ‘really bad’ really fast, and things were pretty violent. Now he was two weeks into sobering up and he thinks that he might start his ‘really bad’ pretty early if he had to go back to his old place without Tord. It was ironic.

Tord let their suitcase drop onto the bed as he dramatically gestured his hands up. “What the fuck is happening?” 

“Whatever you want to be happening is what is happening.” Tom wasn't making sense and he knew it, but it also made a lot of sense at the same time. So there he was, saying things that made no literal sense to a guy on the other side of the bed who appeared to be angry and confused and it's only been five minutes. 

“I… don’t want anything to be happening except for you to calm down. Whatever is happening, I’m sure that we can sit down and have a nice conversation about it rather than you losing your shit over nothing.” Tord’s voice was too calm for Tom’s liking. His self control was pissing him off. 

“Losing my shit? I’m not even yelling!-”

“You are now.”

“I haven't done shit yet and you're already accusing me of shit. I just woke up and it'd be great if you were able to stop lecturing me-”

“I’m not lecturing you, I’m just- what the in the actual hell happened? I haven’t done anything today but give you clothes and offer you breakfast. What are you trying to do right now?” In their yelling, Tom had gone around to the side of the bed and Tord met him halfway. The man’s accent got thicker when he was angry, and it wasn't like he just noticed, he just noticed it more now than ever and it made him want to do something drastic, or, even better, Tord do something drastic. He thought that maybe he wanted Tord to hit him in the face, or slam his head into a wall. Tord was keeping a composure that Tom could never meet and he hated it. 

“What happened? Fuck you, Tord. You know exactly what happened.” He didn't. Tom didn't even fully know what had happened in his head that made him think it was necessary to start this whole charade. All he knew was that he was really confused himself, and mad. And for some reason he was really upset at how much space was between him and Tord, and confused on why it hadn't been broken yet, and he was on the edge of filling in the space himself. He wasn’t completely aware of what that meant for himself, but he was so fucking close to doing it until Tord pushed past him and began walking to the door in the front of the room.

“I’m getting breakfast, and you can come down and meet me when this,” he flailed his arms in Tom’s direction, “stops.” Then the door shut, and Tom fucking hated it. He didn't expect Tord to just walk out and continue with his life, and it bothered him a lot. Maybe Tom just wanted to start something, so he stomped towards the door and swung it open just in time to see Tord turning to go down the stairs. He was quick to follow, running to the other of the side of the hallway like he was being shot at and turning down the stairs fast enough to knock himself over and trip right past Tord.

It probably looked hilarious; starting at the top of the stairs, racing down and missing a step only two above where the man he was trying to get to was, and falling right past him to land on a larger square step that turned the stairs a different direction. His head hit the wall as well, so he was too dizzy to really put together what just took place for a good six seconds until he heard Tord laughing behind him. Bastard. 

He was laughing obnoxiously as he stepped down the five steps that was keeping him in distance from Tom. “How did you even manage that?” Tom only groaned in response, trying to roll over so that he could comfortably hold his head and think of a good remark to make on his tumble, but luckily Tord was able to simply lift him up by his shoulder and let Tom regain his balance with the help of Tord’s. He didn't think twice about letting go of whatever spite he was having for the Norsk in favor of using his shoulder to keep himself standing. Tord let him and put his own hand on Tom’s back to help him stop wobbling. “Jesus Christ, you suck!”

Tom thought that if Tord didn't stop laughing that he might knock him upside the head. “Mhm, I know.” Tord started to continue down the stairs, leaving Tom to simply follow his steps with his own. “Are we still getting breakfast, or can we just skip to the car?”

“Do you want to just skip to the car?”

“So badly.”

“Then we can do that.” They reached the end of the stairs and Tom deemed himself ready to walk on his own again. Tord walked to the front desk to grab a handful of mints before rushing to the front entrance and opening the door for Tom, who was too out of it to let it bother him.

“Where are we going again?”

“Yuu’s.”

Tom made a face. “Me?”

“No, not you. Yuu. He is… An old friend of mine. I figured he could let us stay for a few days while I… Figure things out.” Tom nodded slowly as they walked to the same car they took the day before. “He’s a nice guy, you shouldn’t have a problem with him. But then again, you're you.” Tord mumbled that last part. 

“Cool. I just need to sleep a little longer.” Tord laughed under his breath and followed Tom to the passenger seat to open the door for him, then helping him get settled in before returning to the driver’s seat. 

“You're pathetic.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A much cleaner chapter than what it would have been. How do you guys feel about Tom's predicament, or the addition of Yuu into the story? Or maybe tell me about your opinions on how Tord is handling himself with everything that is going on? Some deep conversations are about to take place in either the next chapter or the one after that. Also, quick shout out to my OG readers out there.


	18. Get Ready

Christmas break is coming up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Get ready for a new chapter.


	19. Forever is Going by Fast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom meets Yuu and deals with specific emotions towards a certain Norwegian guy and he is concerned about himself.
> 
> Song: In My Head Til I’m Dead by Surf Curse  
> Actually really good^^

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m back bitches.

Tom felt like they had been driving for five months. It was funny. 

Tom was sitting in the passenger seat next to Tord, eyes set out the window. He hadn't blinked in awhile. He felt gone. Tom didn't know what was going on with himself, though he usually never did, it was different this time. Not just a thought, but an emotion. He could feel it. It felt bad. The way he would describe it would be like there was something living in his stomach that wasn't supposed to be there, and gave him symptoms like mood swings, dizziness, headaches, and abnormal heart rate, along with respiratory issues and the need to throw something up. 

It felt like hell, but he had become accustomed to it for the past couple of days, and he thought it might feel worse if the feeling left. The more he thought about it, the worse it got, and if he were to stop paying attention to it and distract himself, he would feel just fine up until Tord did anything. When Tord did something, the feeling would come back in full swing, hitting him like it was getting revenge for hitting its mom.

The Norsk could do anything anymore and Tom's stomach would commit some form of suicide. It pissed him off. He always felt too far, or too close, and he wasn't able to have an average level of comprehension when this happened, causing him to go off on the man for no reason other than instinct.

...And they had been doing so well.

What he had learned earlier this morning hadn't helped. It sent his body haywire and he was experiencing emotions he never knew about. Tord was leaving again, and Tom couldn't do anything about it. He wondered when Tord was going to tell him, or if he were simply going to leave without a word. He hoped that Tord would tell him so that maybe Tom could convince him to stay. 

Convince Tord to stay... that sounded so foreign. Maybe Tom just had Stockholm Syndrome. He smiled at the thought, a real smile. He liked Tord and he couldn't even begin to convince himself otherwise. He really didn't want him to leave.

Tom was pulled away from the thick thoughts he was shuffling through by a sudden shaking in the vehicle. No worries though, it was only because Tord had turned down a gravel driveway- a gravel driveway? Were they there already? 

They must have been there, because the driveway (like most) led to a house, and there was a blonde guy on the porch who stood up upon catching sight of their car. The Brit looked over at Tord, who had visibly stiffened. After he was able to, Tord parked the car outside of a closed garage door and shut the car off. He looked eagerly over at Tom, who stared back with an expression only half meeting his. The Norsk only nodded before turning away and opening the car door. It shut with a slam as Tord made his way over to the blonde with his arms spread outward, pulling the man in for a hug.

"Hello, old friend!" Did he give that greeting to everyone he was planning to use? At least there was something that remained a constant, but why did it feel like a harpoon shot him in the gut? He opted on staying in the car until he was told otherwise, watching the two chat for only a moment, Tord speaking under his breath too quiet for Tom to hear before pointing back at the Brit. The blonde looked over the Norsk's shoulder at Tom and smiled widely at him, then gesturing his arms for Tom to join them out there.

He did as expected of him and removed himself from the car, then stepping out to be immediately hugged by the other man. How kind.

Tom stood with his arms on either side of him while the guy started talking to him, and rather quickly too. "Hi, my name is Yuu, that's Y-U-U, sometimes people get a bit confused. Your Tom, Tord has told me all about you-" they've literally been there for less than two minutes, there is no way he could've told him much. "Well, not ALL about you, actually just your name and that you are here, but," he pulled away from him and set his hands on Tom's shoulders. "I feel like I've known you much longer. We are gonna get along great." 

Tom couldn't do much but muster an awkward smile and a thumbs up. Yuu patted his left shoulder and turned around to gesture to his house. 

"There are two spare bedrooms, so each of you can have one. Now, since we are in a more rural area, there are spiders, so be weary of that. If you're hungry, there is food in the kitchen, and leftovers in the fridge. I don't cook much, but if you want something specific we may be able to work something out. Also, it's a bit cold in those spare rooms since they aren't used much, I don't really keep any heaters in there or anything, but we can get that set up before you decide to go to bed-" This man was jumping back and forth between topics quicker than Bob Ross could paint a happy tree. 

Tord laughed, but it didn't sound right. "Yuu, we'll be fine. We have dealt with worse this past month." Oh god, it's been a whole month. Tord rested his elbow on Tom's shoulder. Tom was dizzy. "Whatever you do will be good enough, and we shouldn't need to be here too long." Did his accent get thicker?

Yuu just smiled. He seemed friendly, and Tom didn't dislike it. He just wasn't really used to someone so optimistic. 

"If you follow me, I can show you around the house if you'd like." Tord nodded, and excused himself to get their small amount of luggage, Yuu rushing to help him out. Before long, the tour began.

The house was big. Outside was a wrap around porch, and two big doors was the entrance. It led to a living room with a brown carpet and light blue furniture that looked a bit worn out. There was a medium sized couch and a rocking chair that were both facing a wooden coffee table, and in front of that was a widthy television, and Yuu explained that they could only watch movies on discs. 

Taking a left, they were in the kitchen. The counters were a black marble that had marks on it from heated pots and scratches, a fridge was located next to it, the sink was in the middle of the counters, and a stove was adjacent from the fridge. In the middle of the white tile floor was a kerosene heater that left an orange circle on the ground. It looked like an older house, and he could tell by now. 

They went back to the living room and Yuu pointed to an open room with a bed. He said that was his room and it really didn't need to much of a tour, and right next to that room was a bathroom. The walls were a peach color, and so was the floor. The tub was decently sized, and so was the sink. The toilet, well, it was a toilet. Tom noticed a frog theme, however. The soap holder was a frog, as well as the toilet paper holder and a few other things.

Upstairs was where the two spare bedrooms were. They looked like they were used for storage, because they were cluttered along the walls, but there were mattresses in them both, as well as a bed frame. One room was on either side of the steps, and a door for both of them. One of the rooms (the one Tom would be staying in) had a twin bed, and the walls were a deep green. There were shelves that had books, pictures and board games along the walls, and that was about it. 

The next room (the one Tord would be in) had a queen bed with purple sheets and tan walls. In this room was piles of magazines and a desk with a computer that Yuu explained did not work, and a printer in the same condition. There were also goats of holiday decorations. Everything had been moved aside so that it rounded off around the bed and there was still space to walk. 

And that was the tour.

Tord began to exclaim how thankful he was for Yuu to let them stay with him, but it sounded artificial and rehearsed. He hadn't heard that tone in awhile. Afterwards, Yuu began to discuss dinner, despite it being only one, apparently he usually ate dinner at five. He and Tord usually just ate whenever they could. 

So, for awhile they sat downstairs, Tom being silent, showing no interest, but trying his best to respectfully respond at the moments Yuu tried adding him into the conversation. Tord knew Tom well enough to know that he most likely would prefer going upstairs and doing nothing. He didn't feel very much like an addition to the conversations they were having, especially since it was mostly just what they've been doing after they left the army that Tom really didn't know a lot about still. That in mind, he mostly just listened, and he was content enough doing that.

He learned that Yuu left the army to be off grid, and that he was still working on it. There was a big school bus in his backyard with purple paint covering all over it that he was currently renovating so that he could go on a road trip that didn't end. He wondered if he knew you could do that with just a normal car. 

Tord was saying everything Tom already knew, except his sentences were choppy and he was messing up his timeline a lot. There was something big he skipped pass that Tom didn't know about, and he could tell. Yuu knew also, he made a face while Tord explained what happened before they left, but he must've realized that Tom didn't know what it was so he returned to his happy expression before it was noticed. That meant Yuu knew too. 

So what's was it?

-

Dinner went by quickly at a little after five, with Yuu having made chicken and dumplings and offering leftovers to Tom in case he didn't like the dinner, even though Tom stated a few different times that what he made was fine.

After dinner, it was about six and the rest of the night went on with Tord and Yuu talking until about eight, when Yuu thought that he should start getting ready for bed. Tom figured that today was going to be the only day like this one, and it was only like this courtesy of guilt. Tomorrow they would things done, and it'd be better, but until then there was only Tom and Tord in the dark living room, watching the Food Network.

Tom was sitting on a recliner across from the fore-mentioned sofa. Tord was playing on his phone while Tom stared at the television that the Norsk would occasionally look up at. He looked over at the other man between the moments he was staring at the TV. The silence was making him feel deaf.

Having some quiet earlier in the day would have felt good, but now it was just him and Tord, and the silence felt louder than if they were talking. Now that he was thinking about it, he hadn't really spoken since this morning. Maybe there just wasn't anything to say anymore, or he just didn't want to say. 

Tom was bad at apologizing to people, even when he knew he should. He worried that he had ruined things, but then on the other hand there wasn't much to fix anymore, right?

Tord was sitting right across from him and yet Tom already missed him.

He felt sick. 

He wanted to go to bed.

-

In all honesty, Tom didn't know how long he had been on the spare, twin sized mattress, staring up at the blank ceiling. He kept having moments where he was about to fall asleep, but woke up every time from a cold chill going up his spine. Each time he 'woke up' he would glance beside him to find Tord, but each time he wasn't there. Tord was in a different room adjacent from his own, but Tom would forget that in his groggy state of mind and think that he had already left. That was only the first two times though. 

He rolled over on his side and opted on trying to fall back asleep while staring at the door. He knew almost immediately that it wasn't going to work, but he didn't want to give up on it that easily, so he closed his eyes and inhaled. 

Man, it was quiet. At least downstairs there was a TV on to try to distract him, but now there was no noise. The quiet made it pretty hard to keep things out, so his thoughts pushed past his skull effortlessly. He didn't really pay attention to the activity in his head, so quit didn't bother him as much as it usually would. 

He never liked Tord up until recently. He liked to like him, but it was so much work. He wanted Tord to talk to him more. He wanted Tord to want Tom more. He wished that Tord was in the same room as him, in the same bed. Maybe that's why he couldn't sleep. He wanted Tord to do that thing where he would roll over and rest his hand on Tom's side, even though it had always made him stiffen before. He wasn't good at reacting to things like that, especially when in that exact situation, Tord would only do it if he thought Tom was asleep. 

That got him wondering what else Tord did when he thought Tom was asleep. 

He didn't realize where his mind had went before it was already there, causing him to shoot up on the bed in a cold sweat. He glanced around the room. It looked different now, feeling more dense and cluttered. He was so cold just a minute ago, and now he could feel sweat beading on his forehead. 

He didn't think he was going to get any sleep tonight.

He put his head in his hands and sat like that for awhile, trying to gather himself back and put everything in place in his brain, until he heard a small cough from the other room. 

Without thinking about it, he stood up. He wanted to see Tord, and if the man was awake then he was going to take the opportunity. He walked to the door and opened it up, then proceeded to walk out and do the same to the next door, except in that case he was walking in. It was dark, but not any darker than the room previous to where he was. He looked over at the bed that was right next to the door, and saw Tord. He was on the side of the bed closest to the door, causing Tom to have to cross the room to be able to get on the bed as well.

Tord was pretending to be asleep, otherwise he would have said something already, but since he wasn't, Tom tried his best to gently get on the queen bed with the Norsk. Once he laid down next to him, he began to feel better already. 

He contemplated his next actions, but not enough. He already had his mind made up, he supposed that he just wanted to pretend that he thought about it more in case it went wrong. "... I know you're awake." 

No response. 

"Tord?" 

...

"Hi Tom." His voice was quiet. He sounded stressed out, and the two words came out croaky. He sounded like he had been crying. Tom didn't want to pay attention to it, however; he was too focused on who the words were coming from. Tom missed him and the man never even fucking left. 

"...Couldn't sleep."

"Me neither." Tom nodded even though Tord was facing away from him. He didn't really need to talk to feel better, even though it wasn't bad, just being in the same room as him made him feel so much better. It felt like he could breathe again. "I'm sorry about today."

"What do you mean?" Of course Tom knew what he meant, but he didn't know which part specifically. 

"Today has just been weird. Did you notice that?" 

Tom nodded again. "Yeah."

...

"Thomas, do you hate me?" There was a sniff after that, not a loud one, but a noticeable one. 

Tom smiled and pulled the covers over himself. “If I hated you then I wouldn’t have come in here to sleep with you.” Tom didn’t feel like covering up how that sounded in some rapid fire manner that would cause him to blurt our shit even worse, so he lazily corrected himself. “Not like ‘sleep-with-you sleep-with-you, just sleep with you because for some reason I can’t sleep without you.” He was alright with that being out there. He was too tired to care. 

Tom looked over at Tord to see the back of his head nod in understanding. 

For some strange reason, seeing the back of Tord’s head in the dark with blankets scattered around them reminded Tom of when he woke up the morning after they had ACTUALLY slept together. He felt his stomach swirl. Tom had actually slept with Tord. He did that. Why did that make him feel so powerful? 

At this moment, at whatever time in the night it was, he really wished that he could remember more of what had happened. He remembered how much he hated himself when he woke up, but he didn’t remember hating what happened. He didn’t regret it, he just hated that it happened. Now he wanted to really remember it because it was probably going to be the main thing he thought about after Tord left again. 

Tord was leaving him again. Oh fuck. Well, at least he was here now.

“Tord?”

“Yes?”

“Do you think that you could do that thing you do when you think I’m asleep and you face my side and wrap your arm around me?” He heard Tord choke on something, probably his saliva, but nevertheless, after about seven seconds, Tord turned over and did what was asked of him. 

Tom couldn’t remember what had been keeping him up before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn’t have it in me to go back and reread all the chapters I had previously made, so if I’m missing things or contradicting myself, please let me know. Also, if there are things you wish I would touch up on more, let me know. In the time that I haven’t been writing this, I got engaged, started testosterone, and became a full time meme. I had to come back and write this because I just have to finish this story. If I didn’t, I would never forgive myself like Jesus Christ dude just commit. But yeah, life is going alright. How are you guys?


	20. Lost in Translation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Real deep and real emotional. Tord finally comes to terms with some things and sadness pursues. Another sad bathroom scene, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for all the time skips, It would have been an extremely boring chapter had there not have been any time skips though. I was originally going to do the whole thing from Tom’s perspective, but after writing a few paragraphs I hated it and it turns out Tord had a lot to say. Hope you enjoy :)

Communication wasn't something that Tom and Tord had ever been very good at, especially with each other. Most times in the past, any form of communication was insults and defensive yelling, save for a few awkwardly heart warming moments that took place during the past because of some other influence, but lately it's been silent among the two. The reason for this was obvious; how were the two of them really supposed to talk about their feelings when they were still inexperienced in having a normal conversation? Things took time, and after a month of only themselves as company, they had grown together quite well, but it was just so easy for one of them to mess up. 

This realization came over Tord at eight in the morning as he pulled on his shoes to get ready for the day, even though he really didn't know what the day had in store. He didn't know if he would have to go outside, or if he would have to drive a car, or if he would have to go to a store, and as stupid as it was that kind of shit terrified him a little. 

He hadn't been so confused on something that was happening in his life in awhile, and it made him feel better if he had on his shoes. Shoes never really got in the way of anything, and was needed in most things, so he liked to have them on in case something came up. Shoes made him feel protected. It was really fucking stupid.

He didn't know what he was going to tell Tom about him leaving. He had played over situations in his head, but it'd always turn out a disaster as soon as the words left his theoretical self's mouth, and Tom would either be yelling, crying, or (the worst scenario in his perspective) not caring at all. He could tell Tord that he already knew, and saw it coming from a mile away, that he knew he couldn't trust him. It was a scenario that had been played through too many times since he made his decision, and every single time he thought about it, it physically hurt him. He wouldn't be able to stand hearing Tom say something like that, not with everything that's happened. 

And so, he wasn't going to tell him. He would rather leave doing what he thought was the right thing than to have Tom tell him otherwise. Until then, he just needed to act calm, and show Tom that he was sorry before actually doing what he would be sorry for, and that brought him back to the first thought: him and Tom needed to talk more.

There was a lot between them that would make more sense aloud than staying in his head with no correlation or direction. Nothing really made sense. They didn't make sense. He had been trying to guess what Tom was thinking for too long now, and somewhere, the pattern of the Brit's thoughts got lost. He was doing things that he had never thought Tom would do, and saying things he didn't see coming. 

Now, it's not like Tord thought he was a mind reader or anything, but he thought he had things figured out, he thought he had Tom figured out, but then Tom jumps into bed with him asking for Tord to hold him while he fell asleep. He realized that he doesn't have anything figured out, not even himself. It caught him off guard when Tom told him that he knew how Tord would put his arm over Tom when he thought it was safe, and now that he knew Tom knew, he had to come to terms with it himself as well. He also had to come to terms with how he would call Tom love names in his first language as a coping method.

Tord wasn't stupid. He knew why he did those things, he just hadn't admitted it. It'd jut make leaving even more difficult for him, especially when he figured that Tom didn't feel the same way. He never really put much thought into it, instead he just accepted it and tried moving on with things. Now that Tom was sorta showing the thing that Tord was feeling, he didn't really know what to do. He didn't know if he could handle Tom feeling the same way, or handle finding out he was wrong about it, so he already made up excuses for Tom in case Tom wanted to make excuses for himself. 

Tom was tired and it was cold. He was used to having someone next to him now, so he thought that sleeping next to Tord would help him get some sleep. Of course, that was about all he could come up with, but it did the job. 

Tord supposed that him thinking all of this was him finally admitting it to himself. He loved Tom and he hated it. The timing was all wrong and there was no way he could make anything work, but trying to fall asleep last night without him there was the most difficult thing he had tried in the last month, and he tried to rob a gas station and got pinned down by the shitty neighbor next to Edd's house and watched some guy down a gallon of milk.

Edd... He wondered if Tom missed them. It wasn't very long ago that they had seen him and Matt, but it wasn't what he expected. It wasn't like he had expected for Tom to immediately jump at the opportunity to get away from Tord and go back to a normal life, but it wasn't like he didn't expect it either. Shit, that was only a few days ago wasn't it? There had been so many things happening that it felt like it should take longer than what it actually was. The point was, Tord didn't feel like he had given Tom enough of an option. 

Edd and Matt were good people, and Tom was pretty close to them both, and Tord couldn't fill all of the space that was left with them gone. One night, he offered Tom an escape route from whatever had been temporarily bothering him and in return gave him a problem that was going to always be there, no matter what. Tom wouldn't ever really be able to just forget about this, it wasn't the kind of issue that could just be put somewhere else. He had almost died, almost went to jail, abandoned his closest friends, and for what again? Tord couldn't remember. 

He glanced back over at Tom, who was still sleeping, completely unknown to everything Tord was feeling. Tord couldn't quite grasp what made him want to take Tom with him on this whole thing. Maybe he felt bad because Tom was his own fucking pity party and he didn't care what happened to him, he just knew that it would easier running around with another person to help you out, or because he thought it might just be interesting story.

Nah, he knew the reason. Yes, Tom was absolutely pitiful and easy to drag along at the time, and yes Tord didn't care what happened to him, but that wasn't just it. He figured that when it came down to it, Tom wanted to leave and Tord could get a use out of it. Tom was strong, and had quick reflexes. Along with that, Tord was pretty sure there was nothing Tord could do that would really hurt him, and no one from the army would ever look for Tord and say 'well, if we just knew where Tom was, we could find Tord' because that statement just didn't make sense. Tom was his hiding place, and that was fucked up.

Tord suddenly became very aware of his surroundings once he finally took his gaze off of Tom's face. So much has changed, and it would be good under different circumstances. 

Tord sighed and let his foot hit the ground with a thud, then took a few of the necessary steps toward an unconscious Tom, then thought. He knew he was going to regret this, and he knew it, but that never stopped him before right? 

He stood above Tom's spot on the bed, the expression of uncertainty covering his face as he bent down towards him, his heart pounding in his chest. He put his right hand over Tom and grounded it on the mattress for stability as he pressed his lips against Tom's forehead. It must have been pathetic how tight his chest was getting for something so small and stupid, but it felt nice. Well, it felt nice until he pulled away to find that Tom’s ‘eyes’ were open and he was giving Tord a confused look. 

Tord’s shoulders sank and he stared with sad eyes at Tom. He was waiting for Tom to yell at him, or push him away, or something but instead nothing happened. Tom was simply looking at him with a blank expression that Tord couldn’t read. 

Tord cleared his throat before speaking, his voice still coming out quiet and weak. “I thought you were asleep.” Was that supposed to be an excuse, because it sure wasn’t an explanation. 

“I was.”

“Sorry.”

And that was it. Tom and him really needed to talk more. 

-

The rest of the day was absolutely uneventful, and went pretty much like the day before, but Tom was talking a lot more to Yuu. Actually Tom was talking to Yuu more than he was talking to Tord, and it was weird. Tord didn’t like it, but it was happening anyway, so what could he really do about it? 

They went to bed at ten that night, with still so little words being exchanged between them, but Tord’s arm around his waist, but Tom facing him this time so that his face was buried into the Norsk’s chest. Tord told himself that it was fine, and they could talk about it in the morning, but it was just something he said for comfort. Everything was off.

-

The next morning, Tord tried going through with it. Tom woke up first, but stayed in bed until Tord woke up, which wasn’t long after, so Tord saw it as his chest to get some words in before the day made them grow apart. Tom still had his head on Tord’s chest, and Tord’s arm was underneath him to hold him closer. It was something that only lovers did that they were doing, and he didn’t know how to really bring it up. 

“Do you like this?” It sounded a bit strange, but finally he was acknowledging the situation aloud to the person of whom it concerned, so it was still progress.

“...Yes.” He was being open about it and that was something Tord could appreciate. “Do you?”

“...Yes. Why?” 

“Why what?”

“Why do you like it?”

There was a long moment of hesitation as Tom thought about his answer. “I don’t know.” And Tord dropped it. He continued to pretend that it didn’t matter and let it keep happening until one of them got hungry enough to go downstairs to get food. 

Tord’s (Edd’s) phone rang a few times throughout the day, and no matter what time or where they were when it rang, Tom would glare at him. It was actually what had gotten them out of bed. Tord’s (Edd’s) phone rang and Tom pulled (practically pushed) away from Tord and rolled over to stare at the wall. Tord didn’t know why and he didn’t like thinking about it, so he didn’t.

Every time the phone rang, Tord would ignore it. A few times, the contact came up as Pau and Pat, and the rest of the times it was a random number, which led him to assume that it was Edd and Matt trying to contact them again. If they called tomorrow, maybe he would answer, just maybe, and the only reason would be to make sure that everyone was clear on what was happening the next day. Only two more days and Tord would be gone again, and Tom had no idea. It made him feel sick.

That was why he made sure to tell Yuu what was happening, that way if there was ever the need to, he could tell Tom what was happening or tell him why after it happened. He still wasn’t sure if he were leaving while Tom was asleep, or if he had to take Tom with. He would find out tomorrow. For now, he would rather keep playing over scenarios in his head about that day until he would have another breakdown, and it did happen.

At four in the afternoon, Tord excused himself to the bathroom where he would cry until someone felt the need to check on him. Yesterday, it was Yuu. Today it was Tom. When Yuu asked if he was alright, he didn’t question when Tord said yes. When Tom asked if he was alright and the Norsk said yes, he didn’t believe it for a moment, so he opened the door and walked in to a breakdown worse than the first one he saw Tord have. 

The lights were on this time and Tord was hurled over the toilet, his body kept jerking like he was about to throw up, but each time was a waste because nothing came out. His face was flushed over red with tears staining his entire face and some of his neck. His body jerked forwards again as Tord tried stabilizing himself by pressing his hand against the wall and the other hand was pulling his hair out of his face in case something were to actually come up. 

The angry demeanor that Tom set for himself as soon as the two of them got out of bed that morning was immediately discarded as he shut the door and dropped to Tord’s side. He put his hand on his back in some attempt to comfort him, but as soon as he did Tord jerked forwards again but this time he finally threw something up. It wasn’t much but stomach acid, considering that he hadn’t eaten that morning due to pure stress and lack of appetite, but he threw it up either way. Tom grimaced as Tord’s hand that was hold his hair up fell to grip the side of the toilet. He felt dizzy and really needed to grab ahold of something. 

Tom moved his own hand to brush Tord’s hair off of his face and hold it back since he was still gagging a bit. He kept another hand on his back and rubbed small circles into the spot between his shoulder blades to try to lessen how tense he was. His muscles were tight and he was trembling. He was still leaning over the toilet with a strand of vomit mixed in with saliva hanging from his bottom lip, and he kept make short, cut off sobs. 

Tom pulled away from him only for the amount of time it took him to grab a roll of toilet paper and tear off a lengthy piece to hand to Tord, who shook as he grasped it in his hand and wiped his face off. He threw the piece into the toilet and hovered over it a bit longer to make sure that he was done.

“You alright?” Tord nodded, then jerked forward again, but to no avail. “Are you sick or..?” Tord just shrugged. There were still tears all over his face, but he just wiped them away with his hand. Tom put both of his hands on Tord’s shoulders and turned the man to face him, but he was still trying to look away. “Tord?” He heard a loud sniff. “What’s going on?” Tord shook his head no and threw himself into Tom’s arms. 

His crying was louder than last time, but muffled in Tom’s shirt and mostly just inhales. After only a few moments of shock Tom was able to take on the role that he was being put in, and again they were on the bathroom floor with Tord crying into Tom’s chest and the Brit holding the man until he could breathe again. Tom almost thought it was nice.

Tom felt guilty for being so angry at Tord over him leaving without thinking about what he must have been going through, but he knew he was still going to be mad. He would be mad about it up until the day he was buried, but right now it was just sad. Tord was really fucked up over this, and it made sense because Tom really didn’t know everything. 

He didn’t want Tord to leave, but he never really thought about Tord not wanting to leave either, and he was pretty sure that was what was going on. Or maybe Tord was just sick, but he was crying and that usually wasn’t a symptom of any kind of flu. 

What was Tom going to do when Tord left? He knew that Tord had mentioned Edd on the call, but he couldn’t imagine going back into the room they were forced to share where so many bad memories took place and think about how much he missed him. He hugged him tighter. Jesus Christ, Tom was going to miss him. He had to find some way to make him stay. 

When Tord finally pulled away, Tom had started crying, and Tord just went back to the original position so that Tom could still cry. He didn’t know why Tom was crying, but Tom didn’t know why Tord was crying, so it made sense that way and he wasn’t going to push for any answers. The two of them sitting there together must’ve looked pathetic, but it helped.

They went to bed that night at ten, and talked about nothing until they fell asleep. It wasn’t anything important they spoke about, but at least they were talking.

Two days left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the second smut that I have gotten questions about is supposed to be next chapter. 
> 
> Please leave your thoughts in the comments, I love reading them, they really inspire me to work harder on the next chapter. I would love to hear your theories and some of you are wanting to see more of. 
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	21. Once More With Feeling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So everyone is finding stuff out today except Tord. Tord also accidentally confessed that he loves Tom and uh yeah they have sex. Hope you enjoy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s 12:03 and I have school tomorrow. Why did I do this? You deserved another chapter.

Edd sighed as he sat down at a Speedy's Cafe on a street corner near the hotel him and Matt had been staying at. Matt was sitting next to him, flipping through a menu, but not really planning on ordering anything. The reason for them being here was because Edd finally put call time on Matt's phone that morning, and received a call from Pau and Pat. Edd didn't know how the two of them got the number, but he wasn't super concerned about it. He was just glad they had some news.

Edd was both excited and nervous. It must be something big if they felt the need to meet up for it, right? Matt flipped the menu shut and rested his arms on the table. 

Edd lifted his eyes to meet Matt's. "Have you decided what you're getting?"

He looked down at his shoes. "I'm not really hungry." That sucks. They couldn't just talk here, one of them had to order something or else they'd just be loitering. 

"Not even for..." Edd slid the menu in front of him and opened it, then faced the page toward the ginger. "Tea?" Matt shook his head, and Edd exhaled. Since the incident in the gas station (the one where they saw Tom and Tord), Edd had been working on remaining positive, otherwise Matt would go downhill. When that happened, he really wouldn't talk for awhile and he wouldn't let Edd know if he needed anything. 

It took Matt a bit longer than Edd, but he was also worried about them. After his anger and confusion settled down, he got pretty sad about it. When he and Edd finally talked about it, he found out that Matt didn't even miss Tord. It was Tom he was really concerned about. When it came down to it, Tord had already left and Matt already guessed that he wasn't planning on staying, but he just didn't understand Tom. No matter how he put it, it just didn't make sense. 

And yes, it was Matt that was thinking this. Edd thought it might be rude to say that he had never seen Matt thinking so hard about something since he had to choose which picture of himself to bring when Edd's future self came back to kill him. 

Edd was forced to discard his thoughts when a waitress decided to ask if he was going to order anything, to which he responded "um, two teas please," to which Matt sighed and the bell above the door rang. Pau and Pat entered, both of them looking over the place before Patryck saw the two of them and gestured for Pau to follow him.

The conversation began as soon as the two of them sat down. "So what's the news?"

Pau spoke first. "We know where they are, Tord has finally come forward and has offered to turn himself in." Edd stared at the two of them for the few seconds it took to take in the information. Matt finally looked up from his shoes.

"Tord turned himself in?"  
"What about Tom?" Edd and Matt spoke their concerns at the same time.

This time Patryck answered. "Tord offered to turn himself in on one condition: we had to ensure Tom's safety. Tord has taken the blame for all of the crimes committed throughout the past month."

"All of the crimes?" Edd was still processing the part about Tord willingly going to prison, or wherever he would be going, to make sure that Tom would be okay. He supposed he would have to get past the parts about them being alright with each other, because obviously the two of them were living a much different reality than Edd and Matt thought.

Pau took out a folded piece of paper from his pocket, but it wasn't any legal looking document, it was just normal lined paper. He began reading off the charges against them. "Tord has admitted Assault/Battery for the assault towards Matt-"

Edd furrowed his brows in confusion. "That was Tom-"

The man continued to roll of the charges, ignoring Edd's concern. "-Theft and Larceny for all of the cars they have stolen, and Burglary of a few different places." 

Edd still didn't understand, Pau was openly stating that they both took part in the crimes, was Tord legally able to say that he did everything? It especially didn't make sense since both Edd and Matt had seen the footage of Eduardo almost catching them, Tom rushing in pretending he had some big weapon, and the two of them rushing out after Jon gave them a bunch of shit (and yes, they saw him down a gallon of milk too). 

"He took the charge of Arson, Disorderly Conduct," wasn't that when someone was drunk in public and 'disturbing the peace?' Tord didn't even drink very often at all. "Voluntary manslaughter," Last Edd knew, it was self defense. "And shoplifting." 

"And Tord admitted to all of those? Wasn't Tom doing all of those too?" Matt nodded and glanced back over at Edd in a 'yeah-that-doesn't-make-sense' kind of manner. 

"The only thing we can put on Tom at this point is Aiding and Abetting Tord in the crimes, but Tord suggested we drop the charge."

Matt interjected this time. "And you're just able to drop the charge? Isn't that a bit weird?" 

"Usually we wouldn't be able to drop it, but there was no other way for Tord to turn himself in." 

Matt spoke again before Edd even had the chance to open his mouth. "Why is Tord more important to get than Tom?"

"Well," Patryck began. "This May be a bit difficult to explain, but Tord is on a death sentence in Russia for desertion."

"Tord has a death sentence?" Edd's voice pitched up in concern. Matt's eyes simply widened as he looked forward at the two men in front of him. Patryck nodded. "Um, what is desertion exactly?"

"Desertion is the military term for when you abandon your job during a declared war, and the least greatest penalty is five years in prison, but because of the crimes committed here and his job in the war, he got the highest penalty. We offered other solutions, but he didn't seem interested in them. He only accepted the death penalty."

"So Tord is going to die?" Edd's voice somehow got higher.

Pau answered. "It's the only way he would turn himself in, along with Tom's safety, and that's why we needed to meet with you. Tord suggested it would be easier for you two to be there when he is picked up by the Russian military and take Tom. We will pay for all of the expenses, all we need you to do is drive there. You can even say your goodbyes to Tord."

Edd looked at Matt, who was staring at the ground again. "When?"

"Tomorrow at three."

"Just tell us where and we will be there."

-

It would take Tom a bit longer to find out what Edd and Matt just got told, but he was still gathering information. He knew that something was happening tomorrow, and he was starting to feel incredibly anxious about it.

He had just gotten out of the shower and was eating breakfast with Yuu, Tord had decided to skip breakfast and immediately go to the shower after Tom was done. It didn't bother Tom, it was actually good. It gave him the chance to understand what was happening. He knew that Yuu knew something he didn't, and Tom was determined to find out what was going on before it was too late.

It seemed the only channel Yuu had was the Food Network because that was what they were watching again. This time, there was a woman cooking for her husband and son, who worked on a farm, and she was making them lunch (as if sandwiches didn't work). The thing about it is that once she presented them with the ginormous meal that took three hours, they didn't even care very much. They just ate some, and left again. They didn't even say thank you, like what the fuck?

But that wasn't what Tom should be worried about. "So..." he started. "How long have you known Tord for?"

Yuu turned toward Tom, a confused expression, but then dropped it as he kindly answered. "About three years now, but I didn't have any contact with him during the third year until a few days ago." 

"Yeah, you two met in the military, right? What did you do there?" Tom figured it would be easier to get to the questions about Tord if he started by asking the man questions about himself. 

"Well, everyone there did a few things because we didn't have a whole lot of people. Of course, the army grew since I left, but while I was there I mostly cooked for everyone and stood guard on the night shift. Besides that, I helped Tord make things every now and again."

That must've been why he liked to cook and why Tord was surprised the man could cook an actual course rather than the normal military food. "How do you leave the military? Isn't there laws on that or something?" 

Yuu set his plate down. "Well, there are laws about abandoning your job and going away without being on Leave, but I was actually sent back." He gestures towards his shoulder and chest area. "I got shot a few times here, four times actually, and Tord offered that I left after I Pau helped me recover. He said that I wouldn't be able to serve them as I once could, he thanked me for what I had done, and Patryck flew me back to Britain as soon as it was possible." 

"Tord had that kind of authority?"

"He led us."

Tom nodded and recalled something from what felt like forever ago. Tord had just finished beating up a soda machine and they walked to a park to discuss everything that had happened. Tom remembered feeling terrified of actually discussing the fact that they had sex together, but the conversation didn't last long and ended on an okay note. 

After that, Tom asked Tord about the wanted poster and Tord went on a strange ramble that made it obvious he was skipping stuff, but mentioned that he was a general of sorts. He also remembered laughing extremely hard at something stupid, but he couldn't remember what.

"Why is Tord leaving tomorrow?" Yuu, who was previously very open and inviting, suddenly stiffened and looked surprised. 

"What do you mean-?"

"I overheard a phone call the morning before we came here, I know he is leaving and I know you know things I don't."

Yuu looked away, scratching at the back of his neck. "Tom, I'm really not supposed to say anything, Tord asked me specifically not to-."

Tom was sitting on the edge of the recliner, looking at where Yuu was sitting on the couch across from him. "Yuu, I really need to know what's happening. After today, I'm never going to see him again and I'm never going to know why or where he is. Just tell me something."

Yuu made a contemplative look before lightly sighing. "...What do you want to know?"

It was very easy for Tom to pick which question to ask because it was the question that could possibly answer the others questions. He took a deep breath. "What did Tord do to be on the run?"

"Well, that's a bit complicated." Yuu looked off to the side in thought before continuing. "So, it took a long time for Tord to be able to come back to where you and your friends live, and he had to convince everyone to let him leave. He gave an entire speech to go on a trip back here to Britain to get something that he said was going to change the course of everything that happened in the years to come. All that he could talk about was how amazing this thing was going to be, and after three months, his trip was finally approved by the people higher up than him."

"What he was talking about was a giant war machine that had a whole bunch of added features; guns, rockets, weather durable, things like that. It was supposed to be able to be controlled from the inside, so someone would have to be inside of it to work." Tom was suddenly able to recall why he had laughed so hard that night, and why Tord was so tense about it. "He was supposed to get the machine, and come back, but as you know, he didn't do that."

"He told me that after spending a day with you and your friends, he couldn't do it. In order to complete his assignment, he would be destroying pretty much everything you and your friends had due to complications with the machine, and he didn't want to put anyone through that. So, he refused to complete the assignment he wanted to do so bad because he didn't want to hurt anyone."

"There wasn't any reason for him to be able to leave the army, so he had committed the crime of desertion, which is when you abandon the army and leave without permission during a declared war. There are a few different charges for it, the least of which is five years in prison."

During this, Tom recalled the first day that Tord came back. Instead of doing what he was assigned, he went out with Edd and Matt to search for Tom, and then Tord slept on one of the fancy couches he had brought with him for the first two nights until Edd made them share the room. That only lasted a week, and then everything else happened.

Tom nodded as he let the information. "So is that what's going to happen to him? Five years in prison here?" It made him feel better to think that they would be in remotely the same place. Tom could even visit sometimes. 

"Everything with Tord is a bit more complicated than that, and last I knew he didn't want anything to do with that. I don't know what is going to happen to him after today, he hasn't told me anything like that."

Tom ran a hand down his face. He was going to ask one more question. "Do you know why he is turning himself in?"

Yuu looked up to meet Tom's stare. "You."

Tom opened his mouth to say something and raised a finger in question, but at that moment the bathroom door opened to reveal Tord, who was wearing a black hoodie and grey sweatpants, and he obviously made no effort to dry himself off. His hair was soaking wet and weighed all the way down and his hoodie was sticking to him in a way that looked uncomfortable. 

Both Yuu and Tom were staring at him as he stood in the doorway of the bathroom, his bored expression twisting into one of question. "What?" They both looked away in unison as Tord walked up the stairs to the room him and Tom had been sleeping in despite the extra bed in the next room, and Tom stood to follow him, leaving Yuu to watch them retreat and proceed watching his show. 

-

It wasn't until much later that day that Tom did anything regarding the situation except think about it. The reason for this being that Tom wasn't able to really read into his emotions enough to act on anything, and he wanted to have a plan before he did act on anything. So by eight, Yuu had gone to bed, and Tom had only come up with one idea: he would simply offer Tord the chance to tell him everything. He wasn't going to let Tord know that Tom knew anything he didn't tell him himself.

The reason for this, Tom wasn't completely sure of, but the most reasonable explanation was that Tom was scared to bring it up. Tord was never good at talking about things regarding his past (and present), and Tom didn't quite know how to react. Also, for some strange reason Tom felt almost completely sure that Tord would tell him. 

Tom casually nodded his head at the thought. 

As soon as Tord decided to go to bed, Tom would bring it up... but wait, then Tord would be tired and wanting to go to bed, plus that would be about another two hours away. Maybe Tom could convince him to go up early, he didn't seem to be enjoying his time downstairs anyway. He was blankly staring at the TV screen while methodically pushing the channel up button on the remote. 

By now, his hair had fully dried to it's weird, natural style, and he was sitting cross legged on the couch. Tom was on the recliner, like most times. He was staring at Tord, trying to gain the courage to request them going upstairs, and it wasn't like he was scared of the request, but more so concerned that Tom would sound suspicious about it. 

The Brit shook his head, looked at Tord (still absently channel surfing), and counted to three. One... Two... "This is lame, we should head upstairs." Goddamnit, that sounded like some frat guy at a party trying to get into some girl's pants. Tord didn't seem to notice or care, instead he pushed the power button and stood up. Tom was working himself up about the wrong things.

And so, they went upstairs, easy as ever, and Tord threw himself onto the mattress before Tom could enter the room. Tom shut the door behind him laid down beside him, and they were both staring up at the ceiling, Tord thinking about whatever he was thinking about, and Tom going over how he should start the conversation. 

He edged his hand towards his ever so slightly, until Tord felt Tom's fingertips brush against his hand. Tom felt a sense of relief as Tord unfurled his fingers and let Tom's slip around his untold he could feel the heat of his palm pressed against his own. "...You know I care about you right?" When Tom asked this, his voice came out quieter than he expected, and he felt his face heating up at the smile Tord sent his way. It was small, but genuine, and there was a light pink dusted over his cheeks. He didn't answer, though, simply turning to look back up at the ceiling.

"I care about you a lot, like, more... than I thought I could, and... I trust you, and I don't know what exactly made that happen, but it's fine, and...um, I don't really know what I'm saying." He felt Tord's hand tighten around his own. "Uh, the point is, you can tell me anything. I mean, anything. If, uh, there's something that's bothering you, or making you upset, or if it's really stupid and you just need to complain, or even if it's not negative and you just really need to tell someone about something, uh, I'll listen."

Tom looked over to Tord. He had on an expression that could only be described as hiraeth, and Tom frowned at it. "...Thank you, Thomas."

"-And, uh, the reason I'm telling you this is because I feel like you're keeping something from me." Tord's hand tensed. "And, I don't know what it is, but I know that there's something, and I guess this is me giving you the option to tell me."

There was a small pause and then Tord laughed. It was a forced, cover up kind of laugh that wasn't real in any sense of the word. "Where did you get that? I've been a bit stressed, but there isn't anything that you don't know about."

Tom frowned again, this time deeper. "Tord, yesterday you threw up because you were just 'stressed.' People don't usually do that just because of stress."

"A lot of people do, actually. It's a normal reaction, especially considering our situation-"

Tom pulled his hand away, not really harsh, but he did. He sat up and looked down at Tord. "That's not what I was saying. It'd be fine for you to be stressed out, but maybe you would feel better if you would just talk to me about it and tell me what's going on."

Tord sat up too, suddenly becoming very defensive. "You do know what's going on!"

So Tord was going to start yelling. Alright. "No I don't, because we have barely had a fucking conversation since we came here! I don't know what's happening anymore because you never fucking talk to me, and I don't know why!"

Tord raised his voice at him, a questioning look across his features. "You don't know why? Because of this, Tom! Every time I try to talk to you it's a gamble of how you're going to act because sometimes you hate me, and other times we seem to be doing just fine. I don't constantly want to be taking that chance! All I've been trying to do is make sure that you're comfortable, and then this is the kind of shit that happens!"

"So it's my fault? It's my fault that you keep fucking hiding shit from me, it's my fault we keep getting into fights, and it's my fault you're never fucking happy." Tom pointed a finger at Tord. "You've got some fucking nerve." Then he stood up, for no real reason but to do it, and Tord followed."

"What are you talking about, Thomas? We were just doing fine, and then, BOOM. No reason. This is why we can't fucking talk." Tord was making large gestures to characterize his confusion.

"This is?" Tom laughed. "Is it this or is it because you can't think of anything to tell me that's not a secret?" His mouth felt dry.

"Tom, it's not- that, uh- I just-" Tord's stuttering was mostly because lack of coherent thoughts. His heart race had greatly increased since the beginning of the talk and he felt a headache coming on. Tord was beginning to crack under the pressure Tom was forcing on him.

"-I don't know how to help you if you don't talk to me, why can't you just tell me what's happening-?"

Tord stomped a foot forward. “Because I fucking love you, Tom! Why won't you let me do this for you?"

Tom stopped all of his motions, his expression softening, but uncertain. He stood in his previous defensive stance, but he looked a lot more vulnerable now. He opened his mouth, then immediately closed it, staring straight at Tord like he had grown a hand right from his head.

Tord stared back, his entire body tense and shaken, and his face red from both yelling and what he had yelled. A moment later, he let his shoulders sink and the blood that had rushed to his face settled in as a light pink. He looked away from Tom, pulling one arm up to cover his face.

The Brit swallowed hard and took a step towards Tord in what he hoped would be a supportive manner. "You what?"

Tord inhaled very deeply. He already dug his grave, he might as well sit in it and try fixing his damage. He took his arm away from his face so that the other man could see him properly. "I'm sorry. Tom, I - uh, I love you, I swear I didn't mean to, it- it just happened. I didn't plan for this, it's just, you mean so much to me, and I wasn't going to tell you because just... it wouldn't work out. I just- I love how you smile, and I love when you're happy, and I want to protect you but I don't know how, and I'm so sorry about everything."

It was at that moment that Tom thought he might understand something. There was a flood of feelings that he had been feeling everyday for the past while that he just refused to believe, but if Tord could admit something like that to Tom, then Tom thought that maybe he could finally admit it to himself. After hearing Tord say that, there was no doubt in the Brit's mind that he felt the same way.

Tom took a step closer to Tord, and before the Norsk could withdraw his mind from the far places it had ventured from his worries of Tom's reaction, his arms were around him. Tom's fingertips held both sides of Tord's hips as he began leaning toward him, and Tord began to copy his actions, his arms wrapping over Tom's shoulders, pulling him closer and closer until they made the decision to finally close their eyes.

And then they were kissing. It was soft and gentle, but gave Tord enough of a taste for him to know that he could never have enough, and that any other kiss in his life had been wrong. It felt amazing. Though Tom's heart had started pounding incredibly hard in his chest, he felt incredibly calm and like that was where he was supposed to be. They stayed that way, enjoying the blissful togetherness that Tom couldn't believe they had tried refusing before.

The two were still embracing each other as Tom pulled away. It wasn't like he wanted to, he supposed it was just a check in to see how things were going on the other side of the experience. Tord opened his eyes to look at Tom, a dumb smile on his face as Tom leaned in again. He pressed his lips against Tord's once again, but this time with more pressure, as if the one before was a question, and this one was a confirmation. 

Tom tightened his grip on Tord, and the sound he heard was not loud at all, but it was there. It was a small inhale that pulled away from the pattern the rest of the Norsk's breaths had, so it threw Tom off a little. It made him shift. It made everything shift. The entire room shifted in temperature and  Tom's entire body was screaming at his bones that he needed Tord closer, and he fully obliged. 

But first, he pulled back from Tord just enough to speak, barely above mouth, his breath brushing against the man’s lips just enough for him to be affected by it. “If you want me to stop, just tell me.” Tord met his ‘eyes’ and gave him a confused look, only for Tom to slightly crouch down so that he could drag his hands to the underside of Tord’s thigh and lift him up off the ground; something Tord didn’t think was possible. In reflex, he gripped onto the back of Tom’s shirt as not to fall, but Tom seemed to have a firm enough grip on him. 

Tom pulled Tord up more so that his legs could wrap around Tom’s hips and he could be more comfortable, and because of this Tord’s face was now over his own. The Norsk was already a bit taller than Tom to begin with. After feeling the stability Tom had given him, Tord released his grasp on Tom’s shirt to grip into his hair and pull his lips up to meet his once again. The way Tom’s mouth felt moving against his own was amazing. Tord wished that he had it in him to feel more unsure about the situation, but he didn’t. It was too good for him to give up, and he wanted to give Tom a good memory before tomorrow.

So he pushed those gut-wrenching thoughts away and parted his lips for Tom’s tongue to join his own. Tom pulled Tord up once again for balance as he stepped forward, distracting the other man by literally sucking on his tongue (something that he had no experience in, but thought that Tord might like it. He did.) Before Tord knew it, his back was pressed against the wall so that Tom could freely push his fingers up his shirt. 

Tord gently shook as Tom ran his hand up his ribs and kissed off the side of his mouth and down to his neck. He could hear the Brit inhale deeply before feeling his teeth brush against his throat as Tom sucked in the skin directly under his jawline. Tom thought that if Tord wanted to leave, he should give him something to remember. He was also hoping that if the sex was really good, maybe he would change his mind, but it didn’t sound like it was his decision. 

The Brit pushed his hips forward into Tord’s in an attempt to create some friction between the two of them, and it worked. Tom’s own breathing hitched from the action, and Tord’s back arched and he swore under his breath. Overall, Tom thought that he was doing pretty damn good for having not done this before (with another guy, and last time he really didn’t do much). He repeated the action three more times before he got an actual moan from Tord, and that really got his confidence up. 

Tord was breathing quite heavy at this point, and when Tom rolled his hips against him again, Tord said his name in a tone Tom had yet to hear and it went straight to his dick. 

“Faen, Tom-“ Tord leaned his head to the right so that Tom could continue leaving marks across his throat. “I’m not going to last long if you keep doing that- fuck, alright.” His voice trailed off into more small huffs when Tom did it again, just one more time, because he really liked how Tord would move up against him, and then how he would roll his head back. Tom could feel how hard Tord was, and yeah, he was pretty damn hard himself.

However, Tom understood the message. He lifted Tord up once again, and this time received a quiet whimper before turning, lining himself up with the mattress, and laid Tord down. 

Tom looked down at him and was genuinely awestruck at the sight. His face was red and his hair was beginning to stick to his forehead. He was obviously trying to pace his heavy breathing, he could tell by how high his chest went on every inhale. His shirt was slightly above his stomach and the tent in his pants was on full view for Tom. He looked so vulnerable. All that Tom could think of was how he was the cause of the mess in front of him, and it was amazing. He found Tord properly beautiful.

As much as Tom loved looking at Tord, he didn’t want to keep Tord waiting much longer. He was looking pretty desperate as it was. Tom grabbed at the bottom of his hoodie with both hands and yanked it upwards, trying his best to look attractive while doing so, and it might have worked because once the shirt was over his head, Tord wasn’t looking at his face anymore. 

He pushed himself overtop of the taller man and kissed him on the mouth before discarding his shirt as well. Now, the thing that separated Tom and Tord in this specific situation is that this is where Tom got lost. Tord, had he been the dominant one, would know what to do at this point. It was the part where things were getting really heavy and Tom didn’t know how to do anything like that. Tord knew all about it for some reason, and Tom couldn’t quite get back the memories of what exactly Tord did. 

Tom pushed his hand past the under Tord’s pants and watched Tord’s face. He bit down on his bottom lip as soon as Tom’s fingertips made contact with his hard on, he made some weird noise that Tom couldn’t describe but wanted to hear more of. Because of that, he went straight to grasping ahold of it, pressed his thumb against the tip, and slid his hand down it. 

Tord covered his face with both hands and quivered. He did it again, but knew that was too dry for Tord to actually get off on it, even though Tom probably could, he didn’t want to take the chance of hurting Tord. He didn’t know how to do all of the fancy stuff that Tord did, but Tom knew his way around a dick (because he had one, not because he fucked a lot of guys, he could barely get with women). It made him think that maybe he could get away with blowing him.

That was sort of scary to think about. He didn’t know how cum tasted or if he wouldn’t be able to get all of him in, but he thought that it might work. He had seen enough porn to get the idea of it.

Tom kissed Tord’s neck then pulled away and got himself off of the mattress. Tord removed his hands from his face to check what Tom was doing, which was pulling his pants down until his boner was out, and all the Norsk could do was stare. After that, Tom grabbed ahold of Tord’s ankles and pulled him to where his legs were hanging from the edge of the mattress. 

Tord sat up in bewilderment, being unaware of the plan, and Tom bent down to kiss him again, then sinking to his knees in front of him. Tord could barely fucking comprehend it. The Brit grabbed ahold of him and squeezed tight, moving one of his hands down to begin jerking himself off. Tord was still just staring, his lips parted as he watched Tom move his mouth down towards his dick, but then pausing to look up at him for approval. 

“Is this okay?” 

Tord inhaled sharply as Tom jerked the two of them off. He stammered a few times before finally being able to say an actual sentence. “-As long as you’re alright with this, Thomas,” he ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t want you to feel obligated to anything, if you wanna stop at anytime, you absolutely can-“

“I want to.” The red on Tord’s face somehow grew at that statement and he twitched in Tom’s hand. He nodded and Tom pressed his lips to the tip of his prick and already he could taste the precum. He ran his tongue across it and Tord shuddered, gripping his hand into his hair. 

“Fuck- Tom-“ He finally put the entire tip into his mouth and sucked on, causing low, incoherent mumbles from the man who he figured was most likely not even speaking English. He moved both of his hands in unison as he tried getting more of Tord into his mouth, but he only got about three inches (half) into his mouth before making an unpleasant noise that Tord really liked. 

He stuck mostly with the first three inches, moving his head up and down to match his hand movements. He sucked as much as he could and rubbed his tongue over the slit any time he could, and Tord was right. He really wasn’t going to last long. His breaths became erratic and so Tom began going faster, and then Tord gave his warning.

Tord’s grasp in Tom’s hair helped him pull Tom onto him a bit more than Tom could manage himself, and saliva was beginning to pool out of his mouth as Tord thrusted into him. “Thomas-I-I’m going to come, faen!” And then it happened. It was warm, salty, bitter, and it was sitting in the back of his throat. He didn’t swallow or pull away until he came, seconds later in his own hand. 

Tord buried his face into Tom’s hair, twitching in his mouth while Tom was still sucking despite that he already came. The vibration from Tom’s throat as he came had him practically whimpering until he finally pulled away. There was a small portion of cum that hadn’t been able to fit into Tom’s mouth with the rest of it and the built up saliva that was dribbling down down his chin in a thin, white streak. Tord watched as Tom forced himself to swallow it before Tord wiped the small bit off of his chin and stuck it in his own mouth before leaning in to kiss Tom. 

It was gentle and quiet and said everything they couldn’t say themselves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually really tried to do something different. I have never written a blowjob, but you don’t really need to pay attention to that. You found out a lot this chapter, let me know what you think because Tord has a fucking death sentence. There shouldn’t be many more chapters to this. Constructive criticism is heavily welcome. 
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	22. Wait, Why Are There So Many Guns?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tord is feeling incredibly guilty throughout the entire thing and Tom is trying to be understanding.
> 
> And now, the weather: Leftovers by Dennis Lloyd

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took a bit to update, my partner’s birthday is on the 31st and I have dedicated most of my time to working on her gift. Aside from that, holy wowza I think there is only two to three more chapters left? Something like that.

Tord's immediate choice in method of execution had to be, without a single doubt, firing squad. He had made the decision not long after Pau and Pat gave him his choices on what would happen after they took Tord in, and of course there were less permanent options than his execution, but he wasn't interested. 

He figured that after everything, he didn't want to spend however many years in a prison, learning nothing he hadn't already figured out, probably end up being some buff, "unable to admit he is queer" guy's "bitch," hate himself, regret all of his life decisions and leave in the same condition after five or more years. His other reasoning for this was that less people would get hurt this way (not including himself, of course, but who really cared about that?)

This is what he was thinking as he sat in a chair in a dark, enclosed room. The floor and walls were cemented and the only way out was through an iron door that only the people outside of it could open. There were six people around him, all of which in dark, heavy clothing and masks (as to keep their identity secret, always mandatory during a firing squad execution). Tord was in hand cuffs, but he couldn't really feel them. He also couldn't really see.

There was a mixture of dark red and blue around the corners of his eyes that made it hard to see what was happening, and not only that but there were fuzzy dots of purple and green all over his vision that made him feel like he was looking through an old television. 

His eyes were searching all over the room, looking for something that he could see clearly, but nothing. There was a small amount of light coming in through the slot in the door (the one officers would look through to make sure everything was going okay) and even that was being altered in his vision. The light looked more like it was dripping into the room. Not normal at all, but the least of his worries at this point.

Tord heard somebody from the other room say something, but he couldn't quite comprehend it. At the voice, all six people raised their pistols and pushed it against his head, that way there would be no way they'd miss. Tord absently wondered which one of the people had the blank; it was a good distraction. Anytime that there was a need for a firing squad, there was always one blank so that when everything was over, the people could tell themselves that they may have gotten the blank. It was supposed to keep them in good conscious. 

He sat in the middle of the concrete room, six pistols against his head while he breathed what he figured would be his last breath. His eyes shut and he tried to picture something. He wanted his last thoughts to be something good, he wanted to imagine that there was something else besides the cold reality of what was about to happen to him. He imagined Tom.

He imagined that they were younger, before Tord left and he had stopped wearing his black hoodie. He imagined how much happier he would be if he had realized sooner that he loved Tom, without all of the bullshit the two of them had to go through to figure it out. Everything could have been so much better had he jut fucking known. He wondered what Tom could be doing at this moment, but then discarded it. He didn't want to know. No matter if Tom was doing good or bad, it'd hurt. 

He had to force himself to remember that this was all for him. It's what's best. He heard the same voice from before and heard six loud gunshots, felt the lead breaking through his skull, and opened his eyes in sheer panic only to find himself sitting up in the bed he had fallen asleep in the night before.

God fucking damn it.

Tord's eyes were wide open, pupils fully dilated as the sound of his heart beating filled the void of silence in the room. It took him a few moments to understand what exactly had happened, and when he realized it was just a dream, he turned his head back to look at Tom and make sure he was undisturbed. He wasn't there. 

He sighed and laid his back down onto the mattress once more, allowing his breathing to settle before turning his head to the small night stand by the bed, where his (Edd's) phone was. He lifted his arm up and reached his hand over to grab it, then continuing to flip it open and check the time. It was 1:19 PM. Jesus fucking Christ. There was also fifteen missed calls, all from Pau and Pat. He supposed Edd had given up on reaching them after Pau and Pat told them what was happening. He really hoped that they had actually taken care of things. Maybe Tord should call them back.

Tord had been deliberately ignoring their calls since the last time they had spoken some five days ago, so he decided that yes; he should call them and make sure that everything was going to go alright. He moved his finger to push down on the buttons (yes, buttons), but didn't have the chance to because they were calling again. That made things a little easier. 

He pushed the center button of the phone and lifted it to his ear. "God dag." He said the phrase sarcastically. 

The Norsk could instantly tell who had made the call because all he heard was an "Uhhhhh" and the sound of air from the phone being passed over to Patryck. 

"Why haven't you been answering our calls?" His voice was stern, something that Tord wasn't used to hearing from Pat, in fact he was used to hearing the opposite. They used to rarely question anything that Tord said. They really must have lost their respect for him after he had left. 

He took a deep breath. "Uh, I've been..." He looked around the room. "Busy. Have you gotten everything set up?"

"Edd and Matt will be there at three to get Tom. We told them that you had taken the fall for everything, and what was going to happen to you. You're, uh, 'departure' is set for four days from now."

Tord swallowed, eyes looming over where Tom had fallen asleep the night before. "Alright. I have something to do at this moment, so I will see you at three. Ser deg snart, Patryck."

"Ok, men uoffisielt... Jeg beklager dette. Jeg ser deg snart." Then he hung up.

Tord sighed and dropped the phone onto the sheets covering his chest. He raised his hands to his face, making some strange hand motions like he wasn't sure if he was going to pull his hair out or if he was trying to cover his eyes. He didn't matter which one at this point. He needed to get him and Tom ready anyway. He sat up once more and threw his legs over the side of the bed and began to search the ground for his shirt, which had somehow made its way to the other side of the room by now. Wonderful. 

He stood and made his way over to the article of clothing and put it on. Tord walked over to the door and opened it to head down the stairs where he saw Tom and Yuu chatting. They were watching Judge Judy and eating toast. Strange. 

It was at this point Tord suddenly felt the need to continuously remind himself that everything he was about to put Tom through was for the best. Tom would be able to adjust without him, and he would get back into the swing of having just him, Edd and Matt and he could be happy again. He would probably feel better after a month. He just had to get through today and everything would be downhill from here, right? 

For Tom at least. Tord was going to hit the end of that hill pretty damn soon. He had to tell Tom, right? After last night there was no way he could leave without giving Tom some sense of clarity. He would tell him only that he had to leave again, let Tom know that he cared about him, and then they would go. He knew not to tell him where he was going to.

"Thomas?" Tom turned around to look at Tord, offering a small smile upon seeing him. Tord's heart felt as though it just been stabbed with a thousand tiny needles. "Could we talk?"

The Brit nodded, pushed his and Yuu's shared plate forward and stood. Tord began walking up the stairs and into the bedroom, and Tom followed behind him, a million thoughts running through his head of what might happen. Once they were in the room, Tord shut the door and opened his mouth to speak, but found it to be unnecessarily difficult. 

He cleared his throat in hopes of that fixing the problem. He didn't have a lot of time left. "Tom, there's something I haven't told you that you need to know." Tom nodded; Tord audibly swallowed. "I want you to know that the last thing that I want to do is make you upset, or hurt you, and that I don't regret anything either, it's just, I need to-"

"I know what you need to do, don't leave me." His words were spoken quickly, like it was a virus he needed to get out of him. 

"...Eh- What?" 

Tom's shoulders sank. "You're leaving today."

Tord's expression softened. He was confused, concerned, sad, and somewhat angry, but not angry enough to act out on it. "Thomas, how long have you known?"

"Since we left the hotel. I was awake when you were on the phone."

"Is that why you were so mad at me?" Tom nodded, almost glaring at Tord. "Why didn't you say anything?"

Tom shrugged. "I was hoping you'd say something first." Tord was quiet, his eyes wandering to the left of the Brit because he was having trouble looking at his face. Of all the situations Tord had thought up, this was the least expected. Tom had known the entire fucking time and knew every goddamn lie Tord had told him since the day they had left the hotel. 

Tom was acting surprisingly calm, of course on the inside he was terrified and yelling at the endless void of space so that he wouldn't yell at Tord, but that was besides the point.

"Tord..." He waited for the Norsk to meet his gaze. He put his hands on the man's shoulders so that Tord was forced to make eye contact with him and stand up straight. "I really don't want you to leave."

"For the record, I don't want to leave either. It's not entirely a choice that I get to make, if I don't go then... Well, it's not very good."

"Yeah, I heard that too..." He recalled Tord telling whoever was on the other end of the call that day that he needed to be sure that Tom was going to be okay after he left, and Yuu saying yesterday that he was leaving so that Tom would be okay. The confession from last night made it pretty clear why. "How long are you going to be gone?" 

Tord looked back down, suddenly very interested in a loose string in his shirt. "Not too long."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that it won't be a long time, Thomas." He repeated the statement in a mocking manner, pretending the situation wasn’t as dire as it truly was. He still looking down.

Tom took a step closer to him and put his hand under Tord's chin to lift it up, forcing Tord to meet his face. Tord usually never gave signals any time he had lied to Tom, but the Brit could tell he was acting off. It almost felt like Tord was acting that way on purpose. The Brit repeated himself more firm this time and received a glare from the man in front of him. "How long are you going to be gone?"

Tord pushed his hand off of him and forced a laugh. "Jesus, Tom, only for a few weeks."

Tom nodded, his lips forming into a soft smile at the good news. “Are you going to come back afterwards? To Edd's?"

Tord didn't look away this time, instead he held in a breath longer than the rest and formulated his response. "Yes."

"Alright.” Tom couldn’t raise a serious objection to what the Norsk was saying, or at least not a strong one. Tord just had to do something, and then he would come back, and Tom would have his other two friends back as well. It would be a difficult adjustment, but Tom had a fair warning for what he thought was going to be worse. “What time should we leave?" 

"As soon as you're dressed." 

—————

They arrived seventeen minutes late to their destination.

Tom didn't know where they had shown up to, but it was dry and looked like it was straight out of a movie. On the left, he saw a car that he didn't recognize, a small helicopter, and Edd and Matt standing outside of it. His old friends seemed to stand straighter at the sight of their car, and Edd (whose arms were previously crossed) were now tense at his side. Matt wore a deep scowl, one that Tom hadn’t seen since he found out that harsh expressions can give you wrinkles.

On the right, there was a slightly larger helicopter, with two men standing outside of it with long, blue jackets. They both had brown hair, though on them had their hair parted down the center rather than sticking up from the back. Beside them were more men with their faces covered below the eyes with red cloth and wearing sun glasses like the kind you see in Men In Black. All of the six men were armed with shotguns in their hands. 

Jesus fucking Christ. Tom knew that Tord was a threat, but damn, this was a lot of precaution.

Tom turned his head to look at Tord, who had just put the car in park. He was staring straight ahead, a look of contempt splayed across his features that Tom didn’t see often. It was unnerving, but so was the situation they were in, and the scene in front of them. 

Two helicopters, six guns, eight soldiers, two very confused former roommates, and Tom and Tord getting ready to walk into the mess.

Tord didn't take his eyes off of the set up as he spoke. He sounded stern and uncertain, and the skin underneath his eyes had grown a bit red. Tom was sure he looked similar. He didn’t want Tord to leave, but at least it wasn’t going to be permanent like he originally thought. "I love you."

Tom's chest felt heavy. He sat up straighter in his seat and lifted up his hand to bring it to Tord's face, then brushed his fingers through the hair just above Tord's temples and pushed his palm against his skin enough for Tord to understand that Tom wanted Tord to face him. Once Tord craned his neck to face Tom, the Brit leaned in towards him, and even though Tord knew that he really shouldn't, he leaned in too, one of his own hands reaching up to rest on Tom's wrist as their lips pressed together. 

It was sweet, slow, and sad and ended long before it should have. Tord turned his head away again, looking outside the window on his side while his fingers gripped the door handle. Tom's hand also grabbed ahold of the handle on his side while he looked back out at what he was about to walk out to. Edd was staring at him through the front window of the car. He didn't look surprised at what he just witnessed, instead found that he was more disconnected and mournful. 

Him and Edd locked eyes from the moment Tom noticed him looking, up until Tord opened the car door, Tom forced to follow suite. 

Four of the six men began walking towards them faster than Tom could run, two of them going to Tord and the other two for Tom. One of the men who had rushed to Tom pushed him forward while the other guy grabbed ahold of his wrists held them behind him tightly. They did the same to Tord, but Tord wasn’t afraid to swear at them. 

There was a hand pressed down on the back of Tom’s neck to keep his eyes down and one of the men were hitting the back of his ankles with the shotgun he was holding to make him go quicker. They escorted him to stand next to Edd and Matt before Tom was able to lift his head up again. The men's hands were still tight on his shoulders to keep him in place, apparently very untrusting to Tom’s presence. Tord was in the same position as Tom by the other helicopter. He looked angry but unnerved by the crowd around him. Tom didn't know what he was saying, but he was speaking to the two men in the long, blue jackets. The men looked sad.

Tom turned his head towards Edd, who seemed to be just about as shaken up as Tom, and then to Matt, who looked to be about the angriest person here. One of the men who weren’t holding a gun and had his hair parted down the middle began to walk towards them, glancing around as he did so. He stopped in front of them and looked between Edd and Matt specifically. 

"Are you guys alright?" Edd nodded, Matt ignored him. "I'm sorry. I know that it must be difficult to be in this situation. Pau and I are very grateful for your cooperation. We were very close to Tord as well." He looked over at Tom with a remorse gaze. "Thomas, he really cares about you. This must be terrible for you, considering how close you two were. Edd and Matt have a number to contact us with if you feel like you need to."

Edd nodded, sneaking glances at Tom from the corner of his eye as the man continued speaking. 

"I feel like as though all three of you have the right to know that his execution isn't for another four days. It was going to be sooner, but he insisted that he had some things that he needed to take care of, I can only assume it's-"

"What did you just say?" Tom leaned closer, as if he had the man wrong.

“He has some things that he needs to take care of-?’

“No, before that.”

"Tord's execution is in four days-?"

Tom's ‘eyes’ went white in shock. He turned his head to Edd, then to Matt (who was finally paying attention), and then straight forward to Tord who was having a list of sorts read to him by one of the men with a gun. Tom, had he thought about it, would assume he was having his rights read to him.

"His execution- What the fuck?" His voice was loud and he didn’t really care. He tried to stand up taller to catch a better sight of Tord, now directing his voice to him, but was pulled back by the two men behind him. “You have a fucking death sentence!?” The man reading stopped and turned his neck to face Tom. Tord sunk lower and put his head down, his eyes tightly shut as though he was trying to mute everything out. The man in the long, blue jacket who was standing next to Tord began to quietly talk to him and Tord was silently nodding. The man’s expression was comforting as he spoke to the Norsk.

Tom didn’t know what to do. The man who had walked over to them appeared confused that Tom was acting as though he didn’t know, and was glancing back over to Tord and then back to Tom. His features wore the look that one would make after they had said something they were just now realizing probably should not have been said, and in this case it was obvious. Tord didn’t want Tom to know that he was going to die.

Tom, suddenly very dizzy, looked onto both sides him, Matt on his right, stone faced, and Edd to his left, nervously staring at his shoes. Tom proceeded to glance behind him at the masked men and, without a moment of hesitation, lifted his leg and kicked backward in hopes that he had hit something, and he did. He was assuming that he had kicked one of their shins, because suddenly only one person was holding onto him. Tom shoved his shoulder forward to get out of their grasp and lunged forward. 

Tord lifted his head up, suddenly deciding to pay attention to what Tom was doing. 

Tom couldn’t get very far before the two men who hadn’t been guarding anyone specific raised their guns at him, and one of the people guarding Tord did as well, but there was still one person holding the Norsk back, tighter than before. There was four fucking guns on him, and that was only what he could see.

Tord jerked forward, adrenaline quickly skyrocketing. “Vent, ikke såre ham!” And that was the last thing Tom heard until he felt something solid hit him hard in the back of the head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is going to be depressing. Also woah Pau is being nice. 
> 
> Please say happy birthday for my girlfriend in the comments! We have been together almost a year now and I love her so much, so say happy birthday to Baylee!
> 
> Until then, Look to the north. Keep looking. There’s nothing coming from the south.


	23. No One Has Died Yet (Let’s Keep It Going)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom comes across some startling (very important) information that he thinks he might be able to use. Plus, he realizes how much he missed Edd. And he is sad. Almost forgot about that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a C- in geometry, so that’s why this took awhile. Also Valentine’s Day and such. Plus this is just a really complex chapter with a lot going on and I rewrote it three other times, and I think this is the best (hopefully).
> 
> The weather: Ponyboy by Surf Curse

"-Yeah, no, that doesn't look good at all- Hold on, I think he's waking up. Act cool." Tom blinked once, then twice at the clouds swarming in the back of his mind. His head hurt. A lot. It was also soft; whatever he was on was very soft. He moved up his head to scan the surroundings, but his vision briskly became out-of-wack. His depth perception was almost completely gone, leaving him confused and disoriented in the room he had lived in for so long before. "Hey, Tom. How are you feeling?"

Was someone talking? He kept scanning the room, trying to make out where he was, but repeatedly forgetting what he was doing. Eventually, he stayed on the task long enough to, after a double-take, see that there was two people in the room. Edd and Matt. He hadn't seen them in awhile. Neat.

He proceeded to turn his head away, and- hey. This is his old room. That's neat too. 

Someone snapped their fingers in front of his face, and Tom blinked hard in response. The hand went in and out of focus a few times before Tom could fully comprehend that it was, in fact, a hand. Edd's hand. Oh, and there's Matt too. Tom lightly greeted the two in his head before turning away again- and hey. That's Tord's old bed. How neat. 

"...Tom. Tom. Tom!" The man jolted, his eyes white as he stared ahead at Edd. Oh- Edd's here. And there's Matt, too. "Are you feeling okay?" He spoke slowly, a concern in his voice that Tom couldn't quite pick up. The Brit kept his bewildered stare and nodded at an agonizing pace, and repeatedly, as well. He forgot he was nodding. "Tom, Matt is going to get you some water. Is that alright?" He continued to nod. "Okay."

A figure to the left of Edd suddenly stood and walked out of the room. Tom stopped nodding. He continued to look around the room, the world beginning to become reality. There were walls, Tom was on a bed, his old bed, and there was a lot of stuff on the ground. Most of it was clothes, and open drawers, and... Susan? 

Tom reached his arm out to grab his old bass, but was stopped by Edd gently grasping his wrist and settling it back down beside him. "You'll probably drop her if you pick her up now. You're on some pretty heavy drugs. Pau didn't tell me exactly what it was. He said it was sorta like Oxymorphone, but a lot stronger. You got hit pretty hard. Do you remember waking up at all?" 

Tom shook his head, staring over at the bed adjacent from the one he was on. 

"Well, you woke up not long after getting hit. Which is good. It means that you don't have any brain damage, but you scared Patryck half to death when you started screaming at everyone. So Pau gave you a shot of whatever it was he gave you a shot of so that you wouldn't be panicking for an hour while Patryck was... driving?" Edd paused, thinking over his choice of wording. "He said that you would probably be a bit woozy after waking up so... I guess he was right." Edd paused and glimpsed over to what Tom was so fixated on. He recognized that he was going to have a lot to catch up on with Tom. He turned back towards his friend. "Do you hear me at all?"

Tom didn't make any notion that he had until Matt walked in with a plastic cup of water. He stood at the end of the bed and held his arm outward for Tom, who, with a bit of effort, reached his hand out to receive it. Though Tom hadn't realized it before, he was absolutely famished. He drank the contents of the cup within seconds and returned it to Matt, who grasped it in his hand and sat back down next to Edd.

"How are you feeling?" Matt was inquiring this time. 

Tom's response was accompanied by more nodding. "Tired." Matt nodded back. There were three of him. "...Where is Tord?" 

Edd intervened when Matt began to respond. "Uh, he's not here right now. How about you head back to sleep and we can talk after you wake up?" The man didn't give any affirmation this time, instead only rolling over on his side. "Alright. I'll see you in a bit." The two stood, Edd after Matt, and began to walk out of the room. "Tom?" Said man groaned. "We're glad your back." 

A door shut with a click and Tom stared at the other end of the room. He scanned over the things on that side of the room, having double vision every time he flickered his stare to a new object. The other side of the room was a lot cleaner than Tom's, save for messy blankets, most of the things on that side were put away or folded into a single drawer. 

The man sat up in his bed, the entirety of his vision suddenly engulfed in colorful dots that made it almost impossible to see anything and his head was swarming with buzzes he didn't recognize. He waited for the feeling to subside before, not pulling, more like pushing his legs over the side of the mattress. He couldn't really feel his legs and it left him not really knowing how he was supposed to stand. Though he could see them, he wasn't even sure his legs were fully sentient at this point. 

Eventually, he got down from the bed, slowly sliding down the side of it and hitting the carpet louder than intended. He couldn't really feel that he was on the ground, but he thought he was since he was suddenly so low. From there, he scooted himself past a piece of yellow tape that centered itself half-way through the room and onwards until he was at the other bed. 

It was about this point that Tom wondered why he had just done what he did, and then wondered if he had actually done it or if he only thought that he did it. He sat somewhat cross-legged on the carpet and leaned his forehead against the cool metal that was a bed-frame belonging to a person he once despised. The metal felt wonderful against his burning face and it almost made him feel more real; the cold temperature bringing him back into a reality that was still not quite there. 

He shut his eyes. His head hurt and Tom thinking about it made it feel worse. Why did his head hurt so bad? He could remember small bits and pieces of what happened before he woke up, but it was like seeing it through a very low quality camera in broad daylight. Tord. Where is Tord?

The question plagued his mind like a loud alarm and Tom didn't know how to turn it off or wake up to it, so he could only endure it until something changed. What happened this morning? He was talking with someone, he thought it might be Yuu, about... he couldn't recall. What happened after that is Tord asked to speak with Tom about something, but Tom already knew. They went somewhere, and there were some people. They had guns. There was someone else, what was his name- Patryck? He said something about Tord and- oh.

Tom weakly lifted his hand up to his temple and pressed his fingers down on it in a sloppy attempt to calm his migraine. His brain was having trouble recollecting so much at one time and it physically stung him to think so much about it. 

Tom's face grew hotter with anger and sweat from whatever drugs he was on, his fingers also began to lightly tremble due to just how pissed off he had gotten so quickly just at the mere memory of what happened. Was today still today? Or was that yesterday? Did this happen only hours before, or days? How much time did he have left before he knew for sure Tord was dead? Was he able to do something?

Tom finally reopened his eyes, the very dim room barely too bright for a few seconds before returning to its natural vagueness. He lifted up an arm, the motion leaving a visible trail in the air, and settled his palm on the mattress that once was Tord's. 

Unsure of what his next actions were to be, he tried once more to use his legs (even though he still couldn't feel them) to push himself up. There was a different outcome this time, which was good for Tom. This time, he was actually able to stand up on his shaken legs for an extended period of time before pitching forward bonelessly, making no attempt to catch himself or break his fall. He slumped over the mattress like a ton of bricks and didn't give any notion of movement until finally pulling himself up the rest of the way using only his core strength.

The bed wasn't even very high, maybe two feet above the ground, but every movement took up so much of his energy. All of his limbs just felt so goddamn heavy. 

After taking a moment to catch his breath, he adjusted himself so that he could lay on his back with his head on the pillows, like people were meant to lay on beds. He put in an extraneous amount of energy to remove the blanket from under him, only to pull it to his side and gripped a handful to bring up to his nose. The musty blanket held the aroma that Tom had learned to hold dear: expensive vanilla flavored cigars and cheap deodorant. 

He pulled it closer to him and let himself take it in. Was this going to be the only thing he had left of Tord? No. He would find a way to see him again, to make sure he stayed alive. He would. That's what Tom promised himself. He swore it; he would get Tord back, but right now he needed this. His eyes drifted to a close as his body followed suite, and he fell quite quickly asleep to the comforting scent.

—————

When Tom woke up, the room was much darker than before. He could only assume that it had been at least a few hours since the last time he had been up, and he felt better-ish? His headache was worse, but he knew he was alive this time. That was good.

The reason for his awakening was Edd opening the door. Tom had never been a really light sleeper, but the luminescent glow radiating through the doorway got Tom's eyes open quite fast. Edd was standing just inside the room, staring down at Tom's bed before turning his head to the bed Tom had chosen. He looked confused at first, but seemed to drop it as he approached Tom. 

"...Tom?" He earned a groan in response. "You awake? Patryck called to check up on you. He's on the phone now, do you think you can talk to him?" Rubbing the sleep from his face, Tom sat up.

Tom yawned, a blank expression across his features. "Who's Patryck again?" 

Edd stuttered his words out. Tom thought that maybe Edd had forgotten what it was like to speak with Tom, and he couldn't blame him. It's been awhile and so much had changed that Edd still didn't really know about. "Uh, he's the uh, the guy that we spoke to at the uh-" he cut the last part of the sentence out so that he wouldn't say anything too upsetting. "He flew us home and you almost made him crash." 

"I What-?" Edd pushed the phone into Tom's hand and the Brit pulled it up to his face in the proper manner one would normally do during a phone call. "Uh- Hello?" 

The man, Patryck, on the other end sounded quite exasperated as he responded. "Hey Tom, how are you feeling? Has the medicine worn out yet?" 

Tom lifted his hand in front of his face and waved it around a little. There was no blur. "I think so."

"That's nice. So, uh, yeah. I just wanted to check on you since the last time I saw you there was a lot going on and a lot of new information and I, Uh, wanted to see how you were doing." 

Tom glanced up at Edd, who was patiently waiting for the conversation to end. It felt so strange in this setting to voice any care for someone he had hated so much not too long ago, but he got past that as soon as he looked back down. This was information he needed and Edd being here shouldn't keep him from finding out. "Where is Tord? Is he okay?"

Patryck sighed. "He's in a secure area waiting out the four days under supervision while he gets some things done. He is okay, but he hasn't really talked a lot since what happened before he was taken into custody. He's just sorta been," Patryck paused and the other end of the line was extremely quiet for a moment, like he was leaning away or checking on something. "Sitting. And staring. He's been vomiting quite a bit." 

"Are you with him?" Tom's voice came out higher than usual, the common sound of a hopeful tone. 

"He is in the next room. I'm currently his supervisor, so I can see him through a large window, but he can't see me. The last time I went in there to deliver his food, he asked that I call you."

He knew it was a long shot, but it was worth a try. "Can I talk to him?" 

"I'm really sorry, but I'm not allowed to let him talk to anyone. It's a precaution so that he can't plan anything with someone else to escape, even though I don't really feel like he'd do that."

"He told me before we left that he would be back in a few weeks." He could practically hear Patryck shake his head.

"I guess he didn't want you to know. I was unaware that you didn't know about his sentencing."

"I figured, but um, I need to speak to him. He has rights, right? Like a phone call? Let him have his phone call." 

"He already used his call." What? Tord didn't call Tom? Why the hell wouldn't he have called Tom if he had a call? Who else would he need to call? Tom looked down, not really knowing how to respond to that kind of information. "Tom?" 

A disgusting feeling of betrayal settled in his throat for the third time that day, and Tom didn't know what to do with it. He let his arm fall from its place next to his ear and pushed the red button on the phone. Was this Matt's phone? Right, they got minutes on it so that they could... repeatedly call Edd's old phone and... probably something else. They seemed to have been in pretty close contact with those 'Pau and Patryck' guys. 

He stared down at the screen a moment before handing the object back to Edd. Everything just felt so... terrible. Maybe Tom was just stupid, but he thought that Tord cared about him enough to at least call him if he had the chance. Did he do something wrong? Had everything that happened between them been absolutely nothing?   He didn't know what things were like on Tord's end, but the Norsk had told Tom that he loved him just last night, and then again earlier today. 

Though Tom had never said it back verbally, he did some things that he figured would get the point across, like what had happened the night before. That was a really big deal to Tom, considering that he had never done anything like that before in his entire life, and even though technically that wasn't their first time together, last night was a lot different.

It made his chest feel like someone was performing open heart surgery on him without putting him out first, but that wasn't even it. Tord lied to him so fucking much, and Tom kept trying to justify it and turn it into something good, but what he was supposed to do with everything that happened today? Tord told him that things would be okay, and that he would be back, and that he loved him, and Tom didn't know what to do anymore. Everything fell apart so quickly and Tom had been pushing it away for so long. 

A hand on his shoulder knocked him out of his thoughts. Tom glanced up with a dull stare at the person of which the hand belonged to, and Edd stared back, offering a comforting smile. It was obvious Edd wasn't sure what to do or what specifically was wrong, but he was trying to help anyway. That's what Edd did. He helped people, and Tom missed that.

"...Are you going to be okay?" The voice was quiet, the question was deafening. There wasn't really a clear answer in Tom's head. He felt horrible, his chest physically ached and his head felt like weights. All of his limbs were metaphorically tied down from the medication he was previously under and all the things happening and what he was remembering felt like it was going so fast and Tord had done so many terrible things to Tom in the last few days, yet Tom missed him so much. He wanted him back so badly, but couldn't fathom where to begin.

Everything was swarming around his head like a thunderstorm and he couldn't think past the ache it had created. He tried blinking it back, but it just wasn't working. He directed his vision away from Edd to look down at his lap before trying to respond, but he couldn't. The second he opened his mouth, his face scrunched into one of pain and he exhaled a sob that reminded him of a muffled scream. His voice was strained and choked out as Tom inhaled to keep everything in, but it only resulted in coming out louder when he was forced to exhale.

The skin on Tom's face was burning up and his jaw became clenched as he stared down at his lap. He was absolutely and indefinitely powerless. There wasn't anything that he could do. Tord was stuck in a room somewhere readying himself for death and Tom could only sit on the man's bed and loathe in self-pity. He just felt so hurt, confused, and worried and rejected, and just, what the fuck? What was he supposed to do?

He folded his hands together in an attempt to stop their shaking. He felt angry, but it wasn't the usual kind he had gotten used to. This was the kind where tears welled up in his eyes and his breath was shaking uncontrollably. It made him look so weak. 

Maybe this is why Tom had never been close to Tord; the tribulations of caring for him caused such a great amount of hurt.

Edd arranged himself to sitting on the side of the bed next to Tom. His actions were slow and cautious, so that if Tom didn't want him there he could tell him before it was already happening. He raised his arm and rested it over Tom's tense, slouched shoulders and pulled him closer so that Tom was leaning onto his shoulder.

It was an unfamiliar feeling to Tom. He spent an entire month away from Edd and he thought by now Tord had seen Tom cry in just that amount of time alone more than had Edd in the last two years. Now he was covering his face, taking in shaking breaths, trying to be quiet about how fast the tears were falling from his eyes while Edd did his best at comforting him. Even after Tom completely left him, Edd was still here for him and it didn't make sense.

"I'm sorry Tord didn't call." Tom used the sleeves of his sweater to rub the water from his face and glanced up at Edd. His expression was soft as Edd looked down on him and it made Tom have to turn away before the tears had fully replaced themselves with more. "Do you miss him?"

It was mostly guilt that reasoned Tom into talking with Edd. With all the hell Tom had put him and Matt through, he thought they at least deserved some answers and whatever he told Edd, Edd would pass onto Matt. It happened every time, even if Edd said that he wouldn't tell Matt, it would end up happening. Edd wasn't good at keeping secrets and he was close to Matt, and Matt liked knowing secrets. He thought it was fun.

Whatever the case, they deserved an explanation. 

Tom's voice was quiet, shaken and muffled through the blanket he had gripped in his hand to cover his face with. "Y-Yes." The word broke in the middle from Tom swallowing down a painful lump in his throat. "I just wanted to talk to him again, but I guess-" his voice completely dissipated into a breathless exhale. His head felt like it was in a microwave, and his throat coughed up a few more loud, convulsive gasps that left his ribs aching.

Edd glanced to the side in thought before turning his attention back to Tom. "It sounds like you're upset because you thought you would be the first person Tord would want to talk to, but it turned out differently. Is that right?" 

His friend affirming that Tom's feelings made sense made him feel only slightly better. He let his back hit the headboard of the bed, still dragging the blanket with him as he nodded. He was having a hard time both keeping in all of the heartbroken sobbing and all of the things he was feeling. He rested his head against Edd's shoulder and gave into the human need of sharing emotions.

He figured Edd already heard, but he said it again for himself. "He told me he was going to come back and he said-" he paused to steady his voice. "He said he loved-" the prior actions of preparing his voice had apparently not worked. He lurched forward, tearing away from Edd and slapped his hand over his mouth. He wasn't sure if it was just another cry that was trying to come up or something much messier.

Humming of the ventilation and Tom's erratic breathing methods were the only noises in the air for a short while, offering time for Edd to give thought on a good way to handle the situation. He he sat up so that he was by Tom's side again, but folded his hands into his lap rather than putting them around his friend, and Tom would have appreciated had he been aware of all the details Edd was working out in head to make sure Tom felt safe. 

"Listen, Tom, I'm not going to sit here and pretend that I know what you're going through, because I don't know what you're going through. In time, I would really like to know what all happened while you were away, but it's nothing that needs to be rushed. What I do know is that whatever you're feeling, Tord is probably feeling too. I don't know what you did to make this happen, but Tord really cares about you. Only five hours ago, Tord ended up getting bullets fired at him because he started trying to fight the guy who hit you."

The reaction time between that bit of information and Tom turning for more detail was very short. "Tord got shot at? Is he okay?" His eyes were white, like what usually happened anytime he was told or saw something he believed to be frightening or shocking.

"Well, he got shot in his arm. I didn't get a good look at it, but he didn't really seem to notice. I'm sure he's fine." Tom opened his mouth to speak, but Edd cut him off before he could. "My point is... it really seems like he, uh, loves you." Edd awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. "He probably has a pretty good reason to have not called for you, and even then he got Patryck to do it since he couldn't."

That didn't change that Tord was going to die in just a few days and that he got shot. Yeah, he needed some more information on that last one. "Did he get shot just the once?"

"Yes, Tom, just the once."

"And he acted completely fine?"

Edd offered a small smile. "Besides attempting murder, he didn't seem too irritated, no."

Tom nodded and turned away, wiping his face dry with the back of his hand. The shock from the news of Tord getting shot in the arm had scared the tears away, so now his eyes just stung and he felt dissatisfied with his mental breakdown. 

Tord literally took a bullet for Tom. He smiled sadly at the image in his head of what was happening around him after he was knocked unconscious. He could imagine Tord's eyes widening, and his pupils dilating in that weird, insane looking expression he made when he got really pissed off. 

He saw that look a lot before when him and Tord would get into heated arguments that would advance very quickly into fights. Like that hole there on the wall. They had been fighting over a broom, though he couldn't recall why either of them would want it. Edd joked about it the next day, saying 'we can fix the wall, but we can't fix the bad parenting that led to this disaster.'

Tom was going to save him, he just had to figure out how. He didn't know where Tord was, so that was a bummer, but he could figure it out if he was persistent enough. 

"Maybe we can talk more after dinner? Matt made pigs-in-a-blanket, so it will probably be terrible, but he wanted to do something special now that your back." Matt was an awful cook, and he always has been. It was common knowledge to anyone who lived on their block, with all the fires and what-not. Edd looked down. "I know that you two haven't been on super great terms, since the whole ‘dad incident’ among some other things, but he really missed you."

The Brit nodded.

"Do you want to eat with us, or would you rather eat in here? Either is fine, but you should talk to Matt soon." 

"Uh, I think I'd rather eat in here tonight. I'll talk to him in the morning."

He received a soft smile in return to his response. "I'll bring it to you when it's done." Edd stood up from the bed and stretched his arms out before making his way to the door. He opened it, then turned back to face Tom, his hand on the light switch. "On or off?"

"Eh... On." Edd flipped the switch and shut the door on his way out.

Now it was just... quiet. And lonely. And bright. He brought the blanket back up to his face again as he looked around Tord’s side of the room. Though he had only been here a short time before leaving again with Tom, his side of the room was completely done. Edd and Matt were happy to help him move all of his things in and get some of his old stuff from the closet in Edd’s room (since Edd never used his closet). 

There were posters covering most of his wall, a large variety of them in Japanese with bright colors and attractive women. The rest of the things covering his wall were things that either everyone knew about, or no one knew about, like Silent Bob and Jay as compared to Repo! The Genetic Opera. Tom knew both, since he had known the guy since they were kids. All of the things on his side were really old, from when he was still acting like an angsty teen, save for the bed. The bed came out of those tiny cube things he kept throwing around everywhere.

He wondered what else he could find over here, considering that he hadn’t crossed over to this side of the room up until the day they left. 

Sitting up, his eyes scanned for something interesting, or crowded, that he could go through. The first thing that caught his eye was the shelves adjacent from the front of the bed. They were crowded with a ton of dumb shit, and he wouldn’t even need to get off the bed if he really didn’t want to.

He pushed his body to the end of the bed, letting his legs hang off it and got to work on snooping around his stuff. After he saved Tord (however he was going to do that), they could talk about how much Tom had learned about him. 

The first thing he thought he might want to go through was a pile of what he thought was books on the top shelf, but as it turned out, it was just hentai. He never understood the appeal, but he flipped one open anyway, then immediately closed it again. There was nothing he could gain from this that he didn’t already know, like how weird Tord’s kinks were. People can’t talk while giving head, Tom now knew from experience.

Tom carefully placed the ‘books’ back on the shelf where they belonged and turned his attention to something else. Next to that was a pile of DVDs, none of which owning a case. He picked up the small stack and read the titles. Goodbye Lenin and Red Dawn, Tom knew nothing about besides that they contained a lot of communism, then there was Groundhog Day, all Back to the Futures, the entire series to Flowers in the Attic, Dead Like Me, and back to Repo! The Genetic Opera.

He put those away as well and moved onto the middle shelf. This shelf was the most full out of the three, with cases of pencils, highlighters, notebooks, and way too many folders. He decided he’d save that one for last, since it held the most stuff.

The bottom shelf had an English dictionary with loose pieces of paper on top of it. Tom lifted the three sheets and saw that it was English study sheets. He wondered how recent they were. He set them back down and turned his attention to a red basket next to the book that looked to be full of random shit. 

Upon searching through the basket, there were pins with words in different languages, a stapler, a watch he had never seen him wear, a random, peach colored piece of fabric and under that was a small, Ziploc bag of what he thought was marijuana. He brought the bag up to his nose and sniffed. Yup, that was definitely marijuana. He put that back where he found it. 

After that, he went back up to the middle shelf. He didn’t really know where to begin. The folders and notebooks looked like they were organized, with colored tabs sticking out from them here and there with words in Norwegian that he didn’t know, but could see written on another notebook or folder. So some of these things obviously went together. He picked up a random folder and looked scanned what was happening. 

The first thing he noticed was a bright green sticky note that read ‘no u.’ He felt that wasn’t supposed to be there. He pulled it off and temporarily stuck it onto the wall next to him before looking back at what looked like blueprints filling the rest of the folder.

He really wasn’t sure what he was looking at. Each page in the folder was a different, well sketched out room of their house, but with a bunch of added features Tom didn’t recognize. Examples of which would be: A tank where Edd’s bed was supposed to be, with detailed outlines of the machinery used to switch out the two, the fan in the kitchen as giant blades hat could be controlled through a completely different room Tom knew nothing about, and a blowtorch hidden away in the kitchen sink. 

Tom wasn’t sure if this was just ideas, or if it had already been done. He set the folder aside and opened another that contained the information on how to get into the room Tom knew nothing about. He couldn’t read any of the words, but Tord had been kind enough to add sketches into this one as well, showing how it operated. Apparently, there was a painting behind Tord’s picture in the hallway, and behind that was a lever that would cause the wall next to Tord’s bed to lift up. 

Tom set down that folder as well to put his ear next to the wall and knock on it with his left hand. The sound resounded somewhere beyond where the wall was supposed to end, confirming that the space was hollow. So that’s real? He knocked again for another trial, and got the same result. 

He didn’t know where Tord got the time to even think about making something like this, let alone follow through. 

Tom opened another one of the mysterious folders, the one that was the most thick with pages. Inside was a blueprint more detailed than the rest, an some of the pencil markings looked recent. It was a giant, transformer-like machine that Tom had only seen in movies. Actually- was this that thing that Yuu told him about-?

A creak from the bedroom door made Tom jump, quickly shoving the folders under the blankets before looking up kindly at Edd. 

Whatever information he had just found was going to have to wait a little bit longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah but seriously Repo! The Genetic Opera is my shit.
> 
> That said, get ready for some shit to go down. Not sure if that will be next chapter though. I’m hoping this won’t go on a whole lot longer (and it won’t), but I don’t want to rush anything. 
> 
> Get ready for this sorry-ass shit.


	24. Thanks To Your Hospitality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tord has a bad time and Tom has a sad time + some neato info on some shit and he also talks with Edd and Matt some more hella yeah OH AND SOME FORESHADOWING WITH TORD
> 
> The Weather: Scar Tissue by Red Hot Chili Peppers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait, but this is a hella long chapter so have fun.

There was a shift in the universe that Tord could feel when he saw Tom, tumbling boneless into the dirt, knocked out before he even hit the ground. The reality around him shifted, and so did he; kicking and screaming at the guards around him, shoving them aside, trying to get enough space between them just long enough to where Tord could run out there and throw a good fist at the person who had just caused his closest friend to plummet into the earth's surface.

It didn't take long, maybe seven seconds for Tord to break away from them, and when he did, he was sprinting across the empty lot more swiftly than he ever knew he could. His shoes pounded hard against the ground, leaving traces of dust in the air behind him as he lurched forward at the guard who was standing next to Tom's limp body. He appeared to be preparing for impact, and it was a good thing because just then the man found himself on the ground, the Norsk over him with his fist raised high over his head.

Tord threw his fist down with as much force as he could muster and heard a satisfying crunch as it made contact with the mask over his face. Whether or not the crunch was the man's face or the mask didn't matter all that much to Tord. He pulled his fist back up, and slammed it down again, meeting or exceeding the blow of the one previous to this one. The cheap plastic mask cracked, and Tord did it again, and again, and another time until he started seeing blood seeping out from under the dingy thing.

And then suddenly, there was a lot more blood. It wasn't coming from beneath the mask either, it was splattered over top of it like it came from someone else. Like it came from Tord. The Norsk lifted his arm again, ignoring the strange blood patter over top the plastic surface, and threw his fist down one more time, but it burned. It burned really bad, in the thickest part of his right, upper arm.

He lifted his other hand slowly to the part of his arm just before the shoulder and felt something wet and warm. He stared blankly at the ground, moving his bloodied fingers into his field of vision and became very confused. Did he just get shot? He looked down at his grey tank top and yes, there was a lot of blood, and it was spreading fast. 

Then he lifted his vision back up to see Edd and Matt, staring shocked at the horror that played out in front of them, and to his side, Patryck was lifting up Tom's body. As he was watching him carry Tom back towards Edd and Matt, rushing them into the helicopter, Tord began feeling incredibly dizzy. He felt arms come up from Tord's underarms, scooping upwards, and dragging him back from the scene. The pressure from the arms under his own was causing more blood to pour from the bullet in his arm and Tord could feel his flesh pushing against the lead. 

Moving his vision upwards he saw that it was Pau who was dragging him away from the mess. He let his eyes shut, and when he reopened them he was on a different helicopter with Pau putting gauze over his wound. 

—————

The door creaked as Tom cautiously opened it, poking his head out and listening to audio cues. Edd and Matt were in the kitchen, and the Brit could tell by the smell that Edd was making breakfast.

All Tom had to do was go out there and sit down, and talk a little bit, but he could feel anxiety wrapping around his throat and holding him in place. After all this time, what was he supposed to do, just act like nothing happened? That didn't sit well with Tom. He knew what to expect from Edd, but he still hadn't spoken to Matt, so he really wasn't sure what could happen. Tom doubted it would be very bad, but he was still frozen by the door.

After going out there, all Tom had to do was wait. Edd would definitely talk to him, so it's not likely that there would be any uncomfortable silence, and then after that he could investigate what he had found out yesterday. He sighed, eager to move on with this, for their sake if not his.

Opening the door the rest of the way, he stepped out into the hall, then turned himself towards the living room, passed it, and walked into the kitchen. As expected, Edd noticed him first, smiled, and motioned for him to sit down. Tom took note of how there were still three chairs, and wondered when they had taken Tord's away for the second time. He pulled his own chair out from the table and took a seat, staring down at the wooden surface until Matt cleared his throat.

Looking up, Tom was relieved to see Matt looking at him, confirming that the noise was to get Tom's attention. The ginger lifted something off from the floor and gestured at it, passing it half way over the table to Tom. The way that there was no stuttering in his words led Tom to believe that the line had been rehearsed a few times. "I found this hanging up under my coat and I thought you might want it." 

Tom met Matt's soft expression with one of slight confusion, then reached his arm out to grab the soft, black fabric. It was Tord's old jacket. He kept his vision trained on it a few moments longer, then looked up at Matt to see his expression contort into one of worry, but most wouldn't be able to tell unless they squinted. 

"Thanks, Matt." Setting the old article of clothing on his lap, he noticed how small his voice was, even though he had tried to say it loud and more confident.

"Tom, how do you want your eggs?" It was probably stupid, but Tom didn't want to answer. It's not that he didn't know how, no matter how low his appetite was he knew he was a scrambled eggs kind of man, but he felt weird about telling Edd what kind of eggs to make him. 

"Um- whatever is fine." He pulled at the bedding of his thumb nail, looking up to see Edd nod and begin scrambling the eggs. Only a few moments later, Edd placed plates in front of him and Matt, then sat down at the table with his own plate. They each had a few pieces of bacon and a pile of eggs, the silverware shoved in the middle of the mess. 

Edd was first to begin eating, as Tom and Matt opted on staring down at the food. Tom wasn't feeling hungry, but he picked up the fork anyway, not wanting to appear rude to the strangers he had know for so long. Matt lifted a piece of bacon, the crunch resounding throughout the kitchen along with the loud scrapes of metal against the porcelain plates. 

This continued for awhile until Edd finally broke the silence, taking the leap into faith he never failed to find. "Matt learned how to do oragami." Tom only nodded, not trusting his voice to function properly. "Not super artsy oragami, but he made a fortune teller out of the wrapper from his cheeseburger." Tom continued to nod. "It was actually pretty cool-"

"Alright," Matt interjected Edd's attempt at filling the empty void of quiet around them, his voice stern but not angry. He turned his head towards Tom. "When are we going to find out what happened?" The Brit stared blankly at Matt, looking unsure of what to say. Matt looked at Edd and then back to Tom. "I know we shouldn't rush you, but Tom, I don't know how it was like for you, but everything here stopped when you left. It feels like we've just been waiting forever, and I don't want to wait any longer."

"Matt, stop being so rude-" The ginger shot an exasperated look Edd's way before both of them turned to hear what Tom was saying.

"I don't know... Everything was happening really fast for me." He turned his fork a few times on his plate. "I was drunk one night and when I woke up the next morning Tord was telling me to pack by bags. Everything just went more downhill from there." 

Matt leaned back in his chair, looking to get comfortable as he reached a conclusion to how this was going to go. "Tell us everything that led up to this moment."

Staring down at his plate, Tom thought about what a terrible story this was going to make. "Alright." He straightened out his hoodie so that he would have an excuse not to look up. "It feels really stupid now, but I was drunk and thinking about heading out somewhere and then Tord walked out of the bedroom to get coffee, and saw me leaving. So we talked a little bit, and the next thing I know he's offering me to leave with him, and I agreed because I was really drunk and depressed." There was no point leaving that out.

Edd took the pause as a sign that he could speak. "You know you could have just talked to us."

"Yeah, but at the time things just felt different. I didn't think that either of would really care if I was gone or not."

"Tom, you know that's not-"

"Look at it from my point of view." Tom's voice came out louder than he meant it to, but it got the point across since Edd said nothing else, instead waiting for Tom to continue. "Tord comes back after abandoning us for years of silence, and you give him everything: my room, my clothes, you even tried to give him my bed. You ignored everything I said and all he had to do was show up. You didn't even give it a second thought, so when I was offered a way out, I took it."

Matt kept his place a listener, his elbows on the table with his head leaning in the palms of his hands. Edd was also quiet, something resembling guilt resting on his features.

"And when I woke up the next morning, he had pills laid out for me and a glass of water, and that hadn't happened before. And I liked it. He was acting like he cared, and it was so fucking fake it was real. So when he told me to get my shit together and steal the car, I did." Tom finally lifted his head up, facing Matt. "And that's when I punched you."

"And it hurt." Matt added.

The Brit shook his head. "Tord was driving and I fell asleep in the car, we went to a grocery store, I got alcohol and the rest is a bit blurry from there. I know that we slept in the same bed, we always slept in the same bed after that, it kinda became a thing."

"Is that when you two became a thing?" Matt tilted his head to the side and Tom realized that was an actual question and not him just being stupid. 

"Uh, no."

Edd intervened. "But you did become a thing, right? I saw you two- Uh, and there were, um- a lot of marks on his neck yesterday." 

Tom ignored how his face heated up at the statement. "Uh, yeah, kind of. I don't really know how we left off." A solemn expression settling upon his face, he looked back down. "Anyway, that's how it was for awhile, staying at hotels up until we tried staying at someone's house and I almost got killed, and Tord shot him. There was a lot of blood... We spent the night in a car and then we found Eduardo and Jon at a gas station. He tried to call the police, I think, but we locked him in a storage closet, then Jon downed an entire gallon of milk-"

Matt stopped him, holding his hand up. "Hold on, you're going really fast."

Nodding next to him, Edd spoke. "Yeah, we know about these things and would like more detail."

"Okay, um, the guy that tried to kill me was already a murderer, so it wasn't exactly a tragedy. That was the first time I ever cleaned up a crime scene like that, and I remember being sorta creeped out by Tord knowing so much about what to do. The house was nice, though. And at the gas station, Jon helped us with Eduardo, and then he wanted to go with us." 

He paused as to wait for questions, looking up at the two, and when they appeared to be caught up Tom continued. "So he offered us cigarettes and alcohol and we ran away while they were distracted. And he drank a lot of milk."

"What next?" Matt asked this, an intense look in his eyes like he was actually enjoying the story. 

"We went to an arcade."

Edd raised his brows. "You went to an arcade? After you almost died and robbed a gas station your neighbors work at, you went to an arcade."

The Brit nodded. "And then we got tattoos."

"Wait, What?" Edd leaned forward in his seat, scanning Tom from across the table like he should be able to see it.

"Let me see!" Matt stood up out of his chair and moved next to Tom. Both of them were waiting expectantly for Tom to show them what he had done. 

Somewhat taken back, Tom stood so that he was in the light more than before, pushing his fingertips underneath his hoodie sleeve and pulled upwards. His two friends stood up on their toes, as though that would help even though they were both taller than him. Once he pulled the sleeve up enough to where the tattoo was showing, they both gasped at the same time.

"Oh my god, that's real." Matt exclaimed this, eyes lighting up like a kid on Christmas. Tom smiled, a real one this time. Edd leaned in closer to get a better look at it.

Edd laughed, poking at the inked skin with his index finger. "Why Space Invaders?"

"I had just gotten done playing it."

Matt mimicked Edd's movements, also leaning in closer to it and asking a question. "Why red?"

The tattoo was out of their vision a few moments while Tom looked away, scratching the back of his neck. "I was too drunk to make a decision so Tord did it for me. Then I got to choose his tattoo." The two took their eyes off of his arm to look him in the face, waiting for Tom to give them more of an explanation. "A blue PacMan tattoo behind his shoulder."

"Wow." Edd stepped back, a hand under his chin like he was thinking. "I wish I had seen that." Matt shook his head up and down in agreement.

"What next?"

Again, Tom was deciding to ignore the heat that rose to his face. "Uh, well- it's sorta complicated."

"We have time." Matt affirmed.

Resting his eyes on the floor, Tom readied himself for a confession. He let the words fall out of his mouth before he lost the courage to say them. He spoke quickly. "I told him how shitty of a person he was and then kissed him."

Edd opened his mouth to talk, but Matt beat him to it. "How was it?" 

How was it? It wasn't exactly a clear answer to Tom, but he still tried to answer it the best he could. "Looking back, pretty great, and at the time, pretty great. After that, terrible."

When Tom began to sit back down, the other two following his lead, Edd speaking while he pulled himself into the table. "What'd Tord do?" He rested his chin overtop his hand, looking to Tom with interest. 

"Surprised at first, then really into it, actually."

"Was Tord also drunk?" Matt asked, raising his brows in question.

"No. And I didn't let him forget it either."

"Well, what happened next?" Matt was treating Tom's experience like a television drama.

"I had gay sex for the first time, and before you ask, Matt, yes. It was good." 

"That is never not going to be weird to hear," Edd said. Matt just raised his eyebrows, surprised at how straight forward Tom was speaking and glad that it was going that way.

"Yeah, well, when I woke up the next morning, Tord and I got into a really big fight because I was mad that we had sex and he was sober. I punched him, and he threw a lamp into my head, and then he choked me until I almost passed out, and I left to a nearby store and almost got arrested for stealing spaghettios."

"That's a shame." Matt crossed his arms.

"Yeah, but Tord saved me and I saw a neat wanted poster for him. So we didn't talk for awhile until Tord got sick of things being stupid and I asked him about the thing, and he explained it, and the words 'giant robot' sound funny in his accent." Edd and Matt blinked at the same time, taking in the information. "And then we went to another hotel and slept again. Then Tord hot wired a car and we saw you two at the store."

As Edd picked up their plates, he turned towards Tom again. "Yeah, what happened after that?"

"That brings us to the first time I ever saw Tord cry. He turned on cable prom as if that would distract me and had a mental breakdown on the bathroom floor, and he just kept apologizing to me while I tried to help him." It was a memory that would forever hold a special place in his thoughts.

"That's anticlimactic." Tom didn't know Matt knew words that big.

"Not for me. The next morning I overheard a phone call Tord was having about him leaving, and I was pissed off, but also Tord was saying that he wasn't going to do anything unless I was going to be safe, and that fucked up my emotions quite a bit. I didn't say anything, though, looking back I really wish I had. Instead, I just yelled at him for no reason he was aware of and fell down the stairs. That was six days ago."

Matt scooted his chair closer. "So we are getting pretty recent, then, huh?" 

He confirmed his question with a nod. "For those last five days, we stayed with one of Tord's old army buddies named Yuu. That's Y-U-U, some people get confused by that." Only he knew that he was quoting the man. "He was really nice and energetic and had two guest rooms, meaning Tord and I had to sleep in different rooms, and that doesn't sound like a big deal, but it was. I realized that night that I couldn't go to sleep without Tord. Every now and then when he thought I was asleep, he would put his arms around me and I guess I really liked that, even though it made me kind of uncomfortable at first."

Matt's expression dropped. He appeared to have gotten bummed out by Tom's words as compared to the expression he made when he told him about their first kiss. "That's actually really sweet." 

Tom fiddled with the strings on Tord's old hoodie, looking down with his face more dull than before. "Yeah, it was, wasn't it?" 

Rushing to move on before Tom thought about it too much, Edd asked, "What about after that?"

The Brit shrugged, looking past the two at something in the distance he wasn't really interested in. "Uh, I don't know. Not much after that, just a lot of Tord throwing up and avoiding confrontation, I guess. We slept together again the night before yesterday." Tom paused, wondering if it was necessary to go on. "He told me he had to leave just before we left, and I told him I already knew and tried to convince him not to, but I finally gave in after he said he would come back..." He gestured his hand dismissively. "You know the story from there." His voice was quieter, the comfort in the room quickly draining away.

Matt held his solemn expression, looking over at Tom with grief, but said nothing. The moments after the tale ended were quiet ones, with Edd coming back to the table after having dealt with the dishes. They let the silence be the acknowledgment of what had happened for a good eight seconds until Edd began tapping his fingers against the surface of the table. "We don't have any dish soap." 

The ginger threw his head down, lightly hitting it against the table's edge. "Are we walking?" 

"Mhm." Edd turned away to make his way to the next room, presumably for money and Matt got up to follow after him, presumably to find out where the money was. Edd looked back at Tom, his expression soft. "...Thanks for letting us know what happened, I know it must not have been easy." Tom nodded as Edd turned 

They were both turned away from him when Tom stood, quickly and quietly on his toes and reached up to the blades of the ceiling fan. He ran his thumb over the edge, and it was sharp. Very sharp. Tom pulled his hand away and stood back, examining the small trace of blood dripping from his thumb. The blades of the fan were really that; blades. The notes he had found must have been accurate then, right?

That changes everything.

—————

Tord's eyes opened; wide at first, then quickly retreated into a squint as he stared at the silhouette in the doorway of the once very dark room. There were no windows in his room, being that it was not a room, but a cell- a solitary cell- so the sudden burst of light melting into the dark space nearly blinded him.

"Sir? Are you awake?" Tord groaned, lifting his good arm to put over his eyes. "Good." And then the light was gone, much to Tord's pleasure, but there was now another person in his cell. He put his arm back to his side, looking up at Pau. "I have good news and I have bad news, which do you want first?"

Adjusting himself to face Pau, he answered with a hoarse voice. "Good."

Pau made a face, crouching down to the level of Tord's mattress, his elbows resting on his knees and papers hanging from his left hand. "There isn't any good news. Sorry." Another groan. Tord had been finding it difficult to speak lately with the way he kept vomitting. That was actually the only thing the toilet had been used for thus far, vomitting more and more stomach acids and having nothing but prison mouthwash. "The bad news is they won't let us do anything about your arm."

His arm. He had forgotten about the pain while he was asleep, but Pau reminding him made it hurt worse. All that was on it was a cut off part from Pau's coat that he put on him as soon as he carried Tord into the helicopter. It helped, but there was only so much a piece of cloth could do for an actual bullet in his arm.

"They say that since you're scheduled in just a few days, we shouldn't waste our supplies on you and said that you should understand, being a past leader and all that nonsense." There was a small pause. Pau looked away, opening his jacket and pulling out a small, red and white container. "So I stole a first aid kit." Tord barely smiled, huffing out some sort of laugh. "I don't know how to use it, so I can't do much, but I also took these papers," he waved them in the air, the sound of folding paper echoing off the walls. "And they should help."

"What are you going to do?" Tord sat up, pushing himself up on his right arm.

"Well, the shot separated your tricep, so that's why you can't move it." Tord looked down at it and tried moving it again; it hurt and he couldn't. No surprise. "I don't know how to properly clean it, but I learned a little about slowing the infection so that you won't be in as much pain."

"Alright, whatever you wanna do."

Tord pushed his legs off the side of the dirty mattress, readying himself for whatever treatment he was going to receive while Pau opened the first aid. 

First thing Pau pulled pulled out of the plastic box was a bottle of Isopropyl alcohol, particularly in sixty percent. He shuffled around for cotton swabs and pushed the box aside, then stood and sat down on the mattress closest to the arm he would be working on. He set the items on his lap and began untying the rags keeping the blood in. 

It was a terrible sight. Dried blood was smeared all around the wound, and more began falling out in small bits began falling out of the hole in clots. Other than that, there wasn't anything too in the way, so Pau dabbed some alcohol on one of the cotton swabs and hovered it just above the shot.

"This is going to hurt."

"I know." And thus, Pau pushed the cotton overtop the affected area, being careful not to over do it. 

Tord's entire body tensed, an agonizing pain overcoming all of him even though it was only his arm being treated. Though trying to remain still, he gently writhed, a harsh grimace on his face as he involuntarily ground his teeth together. The stinging sensation slowly began to subside as Pau took his focus away from the wound itself and instead cleaned the blood around it. 

Another cotton swab was deemed necessary.

"...Patryck told me you didn't call Tom. Is there a reason for that?" Pau didn't look up when he spoke, instead disposing of another toxic material that had been stained red. 

Tord's voice was tense and still not fully there, his eyes reaching to the far, dark corners of the cement cell. "If you're trying to distract me from the pain, it's not working."

"Probably because you aren't cooperating." Pau reached back into the box and his hand emerged from outside it holding a large porting of gauze and nonstick sterile bandages. "It's fine if you don't want to talk about it, but it would probably help. And also the first reaction thing." He put the bandages over the wound and began pulling the gauze. 

Tord sighed. "It's just easier that way."

"Doubtful." Tord scoffed as best he could at Pau's words. "Who did you call instead?"

"Yuu."

"It's been forever since I saw him... Why'd you call him?" He positioned the dressing in the middle of the bandage, then began to tightly wrap it around the wound. 

"I don't know. He was someone to talk to."

"So is Tom."

"Vær stille, det er ikke så lett." Pau was quiet a few moments as he finished with the gauze, then taping it down with something that probably did not come from the kit. Tord didn't know, he was trying not to look. "I don't feel like that's going to do much."

Pau didn't hide his glare when he met Tord's eyes with his own, standing up as he hid the kit back into his jacket. "I'm not a doctor, that's a Patryck thing." 

Tord didn't even think about Patryck, wasn't he supposed to be on guard for him? Tord looked at the darkened glass on the wall adjacent from his bed. It made sense that Patryck would have to be on guard now for Pau to do this. 

"I don't know how to fully clean the inside of the shot, but this will slow the infection so it won't hurt as bad. By tomorrow it would probably be too late, anyhow. It'd probably have to be amputated by then. The infection would have spread too far and, in the right circumstances, that bullet could be fatal." Tord nodded; he knew that. "Have you been given food?"

He nodded. Only an hour after Tord had arrived, they had offered him something to eat and brought it into his cell. It was a piece of toast. That was it, and Tord hadn't even touched it. The plate was on the floor under his bed, just in case his stomach decided that it wanted food, but so far it had been rejecting things that it wasn't even Tord's choice to put in it. That was communism, he supposed. "Yes."

Taking a step to the door as though he was getting ready to leave, Pau nagged, "Have you eaten any of it?"

"No," this was mouthed in a quiet mumble as Tord began to lay himself back down, readying himself for hours of looking up at the ceiling.

A disappointed look crossed over Pau's face. "That could be one of the reasons you're throwing up so often, you should try eating the next meal you're given." 

There was no response; there didn't need to be. Pau was trying to keep Tord in some form of self care like it mattered at this point; Tord was already dead as far as he was concerned. Pau was trying to bring back something that just wasn't there anymore. Thinking about it, there wasn't much there anymore at all, just the shell of someone who was once being. 

He didn't feel a lot but sadness and anger, a combination that kept his vacant stare unmoving from the top of his cell. He tried to cry once, but he thought he must have cried too much before because not even that was working. It was a bummer.

"I'll come back during Patryck's next shift." 

Tord lifted his good arm to put a 'thumbs up' in the air, and let it drop down beside him as soon as he heard the door shut.

—————

Tom had been completely deprived of his processing time. As most people get to have a bit of time between a tragedy and reviewing their options for what to do next, Tom did not get that. He wasn’t thrown back into the fire because he never got out of it. Though he had spoken about his side of the story, his comprehension of it wasn’t as well as it could be because all it showed up as was events, one after another, with Tom’s emotions scattered about the mess with no real relevance. 

Thinking about it made his head hurt, so he didn’t. He also didn’t have time to sit and think, he needed to be acting on something. So even though Tom felt like maybe he needed to sit and wonder about his sexuality and what exactly his and Tord’s relationship was, he couldn’t. All he could do was act depressed and search for the answer of saving the communist that brought him into this mess. 

With that in mind, Tom excused himself from Edd and Matt after having helped put some groceries away, then retreating into his room before they could ask questions. 

The first thing Tom did was grab the folder that gave Tom any sense of hope, a thick yellow one that held blueprints on how to get into a room that Tom never knew existed and that he hoped held the answer of what his next steps were to be. After that, he entered back into the hallway, past his room to an old, framed picture of Tord that Tom had vandalized some time ago. Upon opening the folder, this frame was the key to opening the room. 

Tom leaned his back away from the picture, the folder opened in both his hands as he peered into the kitchen. Edd and Matt were quietly chatting, Tom didn’t know what about, and he didn’t care. They were distracted and that was good enough for him. 

According to the papers spread in front of him, there was a lever under this. He closed the folder and looked up at the photo, admiring the stupid face on it a moment before removing it from the wall and quietly laying it on the carpet, only there wasn’t a lever, but a button. Tom reached his hand up to push it, but... that was also a picture. He frowned and removed that from the wall as well, placing next to the previous picture and found the foretold lever in the prints.

There was a strange symbol in red behind the lever that Tom thought he might actually recognize at this point, but he didn’t know where from. He thought he might figure that out later if there was any extra time, but until then, lever.

He lifted his arm up once more, and this time reached the mechanism that was to do something rather than another frame. His stomach did a strange flip as he grasped the handle, took a deep breath, and pulled it forward. 

It was not a quiet noise for the wall to completely come up, and he stepped in the doorway to see it take place. Tom thought that it might have been quieter without all of the things on Tord’s wall, most of the posters were being torn into small pieces as the wall disappeared into the ceiling like a paper shredder. It was almost like Tord never planned on opening it again.

Black voids stared into the new area from the doorway, shocked by what a ginormous space had been hidden from him for so long. 

The room in its entirety was a very bright room, presumably because of all the writing and... experiments that took place in it. There was a large space in the center of the room, which then went up into a ledge that had a small staircase to get up to it. On that ledge was a desk with multiple beaker, flasks, test tubes and gas bottles, with a lamp above it all. Above that was blue prints of the monster they had encountered the day that Edd had superpowers for a little bit.

That brought up a lot of questions, like how the fuck did Tord know about that if he was gone? Did he make it? Had he been back since he left them so long ago? 

Next to the desk, in the corner, was another lever. Tom didn’t know what for, like most things in the room. On the other side of the desk was a large, metallic door surrounded with black and yellow caution tape, the center of the door saying ‘KEEP OUT’ in large, white letters. On another side of the ledge was a map with multiple photos that Tom was too far away to see. Next to that was toxic waste containers. Yeah. By that there was a locker looking thing that Tom wasn’t close enough to see if it had anything in it.

On the main part was a metal plate on the floor that had footprints on it with a ‘DANGER’ sign behind it. Next to that was a giant red button. There was multiple stands with small buttons spread across it. Just by the entrance, there was an (almost empty) gun rack with the words ‘not a gun rack’ written across the top, and an anime poster. What a cover up.

As Tom was staring mesmerized into the space, Edd and Matt has since rushed to his side to see what had happened but apparently could only look at the real-life illustration that had been hiding in their home all this time. 

“Tom, what is this?” Edd began walking forward across the bedroom carpet to get to the area beyond that, Matt following close behind him. 

Tom looked down at the items he was holding, searching for an answer to the question he had been asked. “I don’t know, the title is in Norwegian.” Then he lifted his vision back up and began walking forward as to the room as well. 

Everything Tom was seeing was even more impressive close up, but a little dustier as well. “What is all of this?” Tom turned his head away from the wonders in front of him to see Edd, already up on the ledge and staring up at the map Tom hadn’t had near enough time to get to. 

“I don’t know. A lab, I guess. Something like that, maybe.” Tom saw Matt next to him, looking over a variety of buttons. The ginger raised up his hand, and just before he pushed anything Tom reached over and grabbed his wrist. He moved Matt’s arm back to his side before letting go, “let’s not.” 

Matt frowned and walked past Tom to something else. “Looks like someone died,” he spoke, and Tom turned to see what he was talking about. What Matt was referencing to was four pictures on the wall, of Tord, Yuu, Pau, and the Patryck. Yuu had been crossed out. 

Tom huffed our a laugh, gesturing up to it with Matt questionably staring at him. “Oh, no. That’s Yuu. He’s doing fine, just having trouble insulating the inside of his bus.”

“Okay?” Matt looked back at at the photos. 

“Has anyone even glanced over here yet?” Edd spoke, his voice more stern than before. Tom decided he should check out what Edd was so concerned about, so he walked up the steps to where Edd was standing and looked over the map he was so fixated on. His friend pointed up at one of the pictures, then quickly to another, and the one under that as well. “That’s us.” 

Tom furrowed his brows and squinted, leaning in closer than before. “Oh shit, you’re right. What the hell?” As Edd stated, all of the pictures on the map were of him, Edd and Matt. There was one of them at ASDF World theme park, one of them at the grocery store that looked three years old by now, and one of all three of them at a restaurant when Edd’s future self tried to kill him. Had Tord been tracking them since he had left? How?

Both their eyes left the map to stare wide eyed at Matt, who’s palm was firmly pressed against a giant red button that had caused a giant circle in the middle of the ground. After about five seconds, there was a very loud noise outside that followed in suite of the multiple mechanisms that played out underneath their house. 

Tom ran past them into his bedroom and looked outside of the window to see the full sized version of that thing Tord was supposed to have gotten before everything happened. All he could do for a few moments was stare outside in their front yard at the giant-ass robot a few moments before Edd and Matt caught up with him. 

Matt rubbed the back of his neck, looking out at the new view with him and Edd. “Sorry.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh hell ye I mean shaggy could do this with less than one percent of his power but still. 
> 
> What do you think is gonna happen next?


	25. Legal Obligations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pau and Patryck go over some legal things with Tord, Matt gets to save the day, and a fat cliffhanger.
> 
> We also get to revisit an issue that Pau and Patryck we’re dealing with earlier in the story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this fic will be a year old in... like nine days?
> 
> There is a shit ton of Pau and Patryck in this one.
> 
> Song: High Tide Rising by Fox

Tord had always been pretty good at throwing himself into bad situations. It was a character trait he knew he could do better without, but had trouble getting rid of it. From taking part in a game of paintball to joining a communist army, there were choices that he wasn't sure he had thought through enough.

Well, he didn't hate doing those things. Paintball had become a lot more fun after the fact, and he had been completely dedicated to this army for a very long time and loved most moments of it. He didn't know what that said about him, but he didn't really care.

The point was, Tord thought that he might've thrown himself into a situation again, the only difference was that this time Tord had two weeks to think about the decision he was currently suffering: leaving Tom to get executed. Now, he still understood why he did it. It was the only way for Tom to get out of all of the shit Tord had brought him into, but he was starting to feel guilty about it.

He should have told Tom as soon as he began thinking about it. Letting Tom know what was happening on Tord's end could have fixed something, right? Or would Tom have cared at that time? Tord liked to believe so. Two weeks ago was sort of an awkward time for them. After the end of that first week- god, it only took them one week to sleep together.

That wasn't the point. The point was that even if Tord had only told Tom the night before he left, perhaps they could've figured something out. With Yuu's help, they could be halfway to America by now. Tord thought he might like that. 

In conclusion: Tord was beginning to wonder if he had made a mistake doing what he had. A mistake that he was just going to have to live with until he died in two days.

Fuck. Two days was forever from now. Why did he have to wait so long? He wished they would just call him in now and get it over with. He didn't want to sit in this dark, empty, dirty cell any longer thinking about all of the mistakes he made.

The man flinched quickly, lifting his good arm up to cover his eyes as soon as the light gathered inside of the cell. "Sir?" 

He groaned in response, rolling over towards the wall, then wincing at the sting it caused from laying on a bullet wound, and then shifting towards the door to lay on his good arm as soon as the light dissipated. 

"Sir, we have some documents." That was Pau speaking, he could tell by the grittiness in his voice and the hesitance that followed suite.

Then he felt a small nudge on his collarbone, presumably because he wasn't sure if he would hurt him.

Tord opened his eyes to see Patryck was the one who had nudged him, with Pau standing behind him. Patryck spoke, his voice softer than it normally was. "Tord, we have to go over your will before Monday."

Before Monday? Holy shit, was it Saturday? Is that why they were waiting four days before killing him? They had picked him up on Friday, and they wanted to wait for the weekend to be over before doing his execution. Tord let out a small, obnoxious laugh at the thought. That was fucking stupid. 

He would do a much better job as being the leader than the person who actually was, Tord was only in charge of the small corporation they were in right now. If he were in charge of the whole system... things would probably be a lot more systematic.

He sat up at a normal speed, but still saw static moments after. He couldn't explain it, but he was feeling a bit loopy. All he had been doing the last 48 hours is sleep and think, and of course that didn't seem that bad, but it wasn't good at all. And with that, his cell smelled like medical alcohol and the foul odor of pus from his arm. It made him nauseous, along with the pain that came along with the infection spreading. 

"My what?"

Pau stepped closer, holding a paper and pen on a scratched up clipboard. "Your will? You're final testimony?"

"Do you both need to be in here for that?" Glancing between the two made his head spin. He felt like he might actually have a fever.

Patryck crouched down to Tord's level, Pau handing him the clipboard. Patryck grasped it and turned it to where Tord could properly see it, well, if the static would clear from his eyes. 

"Since you're originally from Norway, and lived in Britain most of your life, and since you're dying here, you have to fill out an international will. You need two witnesses for it to be valid, and not a lot of countries accept international wills so we have to make sure that it follows the jurisdiction of all three countries... Are you left handed?"

"No."

"Alright, Pau will write it then. You will have to sign it at the end." Tord nodded slowly at Patryck, who was now standing up, and then at Pau who took the clipboard back. "I'm going to replace your bandages. Is that okay?" 

Patryck was talking to him like he was fragile. Tord would've been offended by it if he had picked it up, but he didn't. Instead he responded with a drawn out "nooooo." He didn't want anyone touching his arm because it fucking hurt and he was going to die in two days. Why would they need to be fixing him up? It was stupid.

"I'm going to do it anyway. Pau, you can start now, the sooner we're done, the better. I don't want anyone walking into the surveillance room while I'm using our supplies on him." 

Pau nodded his head, cleared his throat, and began. "What is your full name?"

Tord's response was mildly delayed. "...Tord Lind Nygård."

Pau made a surprised face, scribbling down on a printed document. "Address?"

Tord wasn't sure what he was supposed to say for that. "Uh... pass?" 

Pau scribbled something down after that.

Patryck sat down next to him, pulling a first aid just as Pau had before. Patryck was better at this kind of stuff. As far as Tord knew, Patryck originally wanted to be an emergency surgeon. That was someone who would do, well... emergency surgeries. In a car, middle of the street, being taken out on a stretcher. If someone had just gotten shot in the heart at three in the morning, they would call someone like Patryck to handle it.

Tord had no idea why Patryck was here. It was something about his dad, he knew that. He would know more about it if he knew Patryck as long as he had known Pau.

He and Pau went to the same school when they were kids, and technically Patryck did too, but he was four years younger than them. They didn't talk much at that time. 

"Tord, could you remove your shirt? I want to check how far the infection has spread." Patryck asked this as he pushed the 'on' button if a very small, laser pointer esc flashlight. He pointed it down at the ground as to not hurt anyone's eyes, anyone being Tord.

The Norsk huffed as he used his left arm to grab the bottom of his shirt and lift it up as much as he could. He struggled a bit at pulling it over his head, but eventually got it and let the fabric fall off of his right arm. He left it there, not wanting to fight with getting it off from his wrist. 

During this time, Patryck stepped behind Pau to check what he was doing. He shown the light on it and spoke quietly. "There should be a little circle over the 'A' in Nygård." Pau nodded and put the pen back to the paper. 

Pau began speaking again. "Who do you want to be the executor of your will?"

Patryck paused as he had begun removing the bandages over Tord's arm. He lifted his hand, "I'll do it."

"Is that alright?" Pau asked this to Tord, who waved his hand dismissively as Patryck finished taking off Tord's bandages. "Okay. Do you have any relatives that you want to inherit anything?"

There wasn't an answer for a few moments as Tord blinked heavily, then shrugged his one shoulder. Pau was holding a bottle of isopropyl alcohol and a small cotton pad. He was applying the solution to the small item before dabbing it around the wound. 

"You could name any relative." The man didn't respond, only tensing as the cotton touched his revealed, bloodied flesh. "You do have someone, right?"

"Not that I know of." Patryck folded the cotton swab twice, making a small point and began to clean the inside of the shot. It fucking hurt. Tord shut his eyes tight and lowered his head between his shoulders, biting down hard on his teeth for long seconds until Patryck finally removed it from his flesh. He took a deep breath and reopened his eyes, trying to regain his composure. "Uh, I don't think I'd have much to give anyone anyway." His voice was forced.

He felt steady fingers press against his glenohumeral join just above his bicep. "Does that hurt?" Patryck asked as he pressed harder on the skin.

"I can't feel it," Tord stated, a wave of dizziness flushing over him. Patryck gave a look down at the first aid, sort of a glare. Tord assumed that wasn't good news.

Pau began speaking on behalf of Tord's statement previous to the one most recent. "360,000$ for your service here seems like something you might want to give someone, but maybe that's just me. Not only that, but everything you have back in Britain-"

"I'm still getting that money? I assumed they'd take it back after everything." Tord was sort of out of breath.

"That would be illegal." Tord made a face. "So, do you know who you would give that to if there aren't any relatives?"

Tord thought a moment, squinting at the ceiling. He breathed out a sigh, then looked straight ahead at Pau, who had his pen at the ready. "Just leave everything to Tom if he wants it." 

"Alright, what's his full name?" 

That was a great question Tord did not know the answer to. He didn't know what Tom's middle name was, so he gave Pau the best he could. "Thomas Allen. I don't know his middle name."

"That's fine." Pau scribbled the answer onto the document. "You don't have any major estate of land, do you?"

"No."

Handing the clipboard and pen to Tord, Pau sighed. "I guess that's it then. Sign at the bottom the best you can and we will hold onto this until... well, yeah."

Tord did not try his best. He settled the clipboard on his lap, then found the pen which had fallen onto the sheets beside him as he was adjusting to see the document more clearly. 

Being unable to hold the board still with one of his hands as he wrote, he let it move around as he scribbled small curves and circles at random. Patryck was shining the light down on it, but Tord wasn't really using it to his advantage. Then, he settled the pen back on top of the board and passed it back to Pau.

Patryck unraveled some ace bandages and stretched them across one of his arms to the other. He knelt down to Tord once more and pressed the edge of the bandage to his skin, then started to wrap it tightly around his arm. Very tightly. It hurt, actually. 

"Patryck, I think that's too tight." Tord bluntly stated this, staring down at the work the other man was doing.

"Not with how fast this infection is spreading." He pushed down on the top of his shoulder. "Does that hurt?"

"Um, sort of?"

"The infection is spreading there right now," he pulled harder. "If it keeps spreading at this pace, it could get to your throat and you would be wheezing and suffocating up until Monday, and that would suck."

He finished fixing up the bandage and put everything back into its case, then hid it under his coat. 

"Well, I guess we should go. Pau will be back later with food, and hopefully I'll be on guard then so you can talk a bit or something..." Pau nodded at Patryck's statement, straightening his back as the stepped towards the door. "And um, when did you get a pac man tattoo?"

"Uh, I don't know, maybe three weeks ago?" His tone was uncertain.

"Nice." Then the two exited and Tord heard the door lock behind them.

—————

Upon leaving their formal general's cell, the two began to make their way back into the public areas of the building. The corridors were located past the cells (which there not many of), to a seating room for visitation. No one went in there.

Past that and to the left would be the surveillance room, but since Patryck was usually the only one in there, the two referred to it as his room. Pau had suggested they stop there so that he could drop off the documents he had filled out and let Patryck hide the first aid in case he felt that it was necessary to use again. So they decided to go to Patryck's room, and then to the public corridors. Maybe to the kitchen, depending on what time it was. 

"Does this make you feel bad?" Pau asked this, eyes lowering to the ground as his grip on the clipboard tightened.

"What, Tord?" Pau nodded, looking over to Patryck from the corner of his eye. "Yeah... there isn't much we can really do about it, though. We are already breaking a lot of rules for him."

"What about Tom?"

Patryck thought. "It's probably really bad for him. I doubt that he really understands everything that's happening. I mean, if I were in his situation, I would be so fucking confused. One day everything seems to be fine and you're fine and you're happy with someone you love, and then the next day that person is being gunned down and taken for a death sentence."

Pau knitted his brows together, his eyes settling on the floor. "I can't even imagine that."

It was quiet a bit after that, only the sounds of their footsteps in the long hallway as they thought.

"Ya know, Patryck, I Uh..." Pau scratched the back of his neck, his shoulders hiked up and his eyes locked on his shoes. "All the stuff happening with them has got me thinking, and I don't want anything like that to happen to me in my life, ya know? I don't wanna lose anyone like that."

The other man's steps began to slow. Patryck didn't know where Pau was going with this, but he thought that they might have to walk a little slower if he was going to take so long to get to the point. "Yeah?"

"It got me thinking about what's important to me and stuff, and what I cared about and didn't want to see go away. And I, uh, I started thinking about you."

Patryck stopped walking all together, his steps abruptly coming to an end as he turned his focus to Pau. He felt his face begin to heat up, both from embarrassment and somewhat frustration. 

He and Pau had known each other for about four years now. They were pretty close to say the least, but about two weeks ago they had gotten a little too close for Patryck's liking. The two had shared a dumb, regretful kiss, and it had put a huge damper on their relationship for awhile after that. They had just started getting back on track. What was Pau doing?

"Pau, what are you trying to do?" That came out a little harsher than he meant it to, but Pau didn't seem very fazed. It seemed he knew exactly what he was trying to do, and the negative response wasn't going to stop him from giving it a shot.

"Pat, I know that you're openly into men, and I was thinking 'well, I'm a man,'" Patryck noticed that Pau visibly cringed after he said that. Pau finally decided to look up from the ground, his eyes meeting Patryck's in a nervous manner. "...And, um, I think that it would be really cool if you were into me like that."

Patryck was silent.

"I don't know if this seems sudden to you or anything, especially since um... the incident and we said it wouldn't happen again, but I think I might love you and I wanna find out before anything bad can happen to one of us." Pau tilted his head, awkwardly scratching the side of his face as he did so. "I thought that maybe you might want to, I don't know, go out sometime. With me. As a date. See if maybe we would be, uh, compatible romantic partners." 

Patryck's stare was so intense Pau thought he might be looking through him. After a second or so, Patryck began walking again, taking the turn they'd need to get to his room. Pau followed behind him slowly, uncertain if he had done something wrong.

Then, "Alright."

"Alright?" Pau repeated questioningly, verifying what he thought he had heard. 

The other man nodded, unable to make eye contact with Pau. "Yeah, but we should go slow, alright? Last I knew, you didn't swing that way, so you shouldn't overwhelm yourself if you think you might be feeling like that."

Pau smiled, eyes bright as they got closer to the door they would be entering through. "Alright, good! Um, maybe we can do something tonight? I, uh, I have a clear schedule all after five if you want-?"

Patryck cut him off, a panic in his voice that was usually quite rare. "Is that Greg?"

"Huh?" 

It was then that Pau saw one of their peers exiting Patryck's room, the surveillance room. The room with the cameras for every room, including cells. That was not good at all. And of course it had to be Greg. They fucking hated Greg. He made bad food and wore stupid glasses and had beliefs that leaned more towards liberal than communism. He was always doing his work and it just pissed them off. He was so dedicated to ruining everyone's life, and if he had seen them in Tord's cell with bandages, they were definitely going to get it. 

The culprit turned the next corner, out of their sight as Patryck rushed into his room to see what all had been messed with. Luckily, it looked like everything was still in place, but you didn't need to move anything around to watch some cameras.

"God, I hate Greg!" Patryck loudly stated this. "Greg is just the worst, with his dumb conspiracies and poor political taste. What was he doing in here?"

"I don't know but we might want to start thinking of excuses if he saw anything." Patryck nodded, shutting the door behind him and settling in his stuff (first aid and legal documents). "Besides that, I have a dinner reservation at that one place downtown you like for in case you said yes, so we should-"

"Jesus Christ, alright. Let's get ready."

—————

"Not good not good not good not good." 

Tom repeated this over the span of twenty seconds. He was frantically moving from the window in his bedroom back to Tord's room, Matt following him and Edd running outside to the giant piece of machinery. Matt was saying something, but Tom wasn't listening, instead he was trying to figure out the easiest way to fix what the ginger had done. 

He circled around the room once, vision scanning over the entirety of everything. There were a lot of buttons. One of them had to be useful, right?

Tom glanced down at his hand; he was still holding that yellow folder. "Matt," said man stopped talking. He looked at Tom and awaited what he was going to say because he thought Tom might know better about the situation than him. "Look in here," he handed him the folder. "It's in Norwegian, but if you think you see something important, let me know."

So Matt looked through it. He opened the folder and stared down at the pages, immediately feeling overwhelmed by the words. He was very confused. He usually understood about twenty percent of what was going on at all times, but right now it felt like only ten percent. 

What was he even looking at? Whatever it was, it was complex. He didn't like it.

"Tom?"

"Hm?" Tom was staring down at the buttons as if they would offer him an answer. As soon as he began to bring his hand to push one of the buttons, Matt began to throw out an idea.

"Push the red one again?" He sounded uncertain. He was uncertain. He didn't find that anywhere on the papers, but honestly it didn't seem like pushing it again would do anything bad, and he had always gone for easy solutions before. It shouldn't be any different now. 

Tom turned around, gave Matt a look of question, and pushed down on the button. Immediately after, the sound of gears moving around filled the air and the floor shook. They were quiet until Edd rushed back inside the house. "Where did it go?" He yelled this from the living room, slowly making his way to where they were again.

"I DID IT!" Matt yelled this and threw a fist in the air.

"Did what?"

"He figured out how to put that thing back where it came from." Tom moved to his bedroom once more, looking out the window to be sure that it was really gone. It was. So was the hole in the ground it had created.

So they could get it back out by pushing the button again? Tom thought he might have an idea.

"Um, Matt. Can I borrow your phone?"

Edd took a phone out of his pocket and handed it to Tom. It was Matt's, but for some reason he wasn't holding onto it. Tom supposed it was because of Matt's phone being their only way of calling at this point since Tord had taken Edd's phone. Tom grabbed ahold of the phone and went to contacts. Pau and Patryck had to be in here, and Tom's plan was to get ahold of Yuu and figure out what the notes say. If he could read it, he might be able to save Tord.

What time was it, seven? That wasn't too late. 

Tom found the contact and pushed the call button, putting it on speaker phone and holding it out. If they answered, he would be on a good track. He would just have to get Yuu on board, and after that convince Edd and Matt to help  
him.

This could potentially work.

—————

"Hey, Pat, calm down. It's only a date." Patryck looked up from his half empty plate, trying to keep his hair over his face in the dim, orange-ish lighting didn't flatter him. He was a nervous eater, and he could easily admit it. Mastering the art of eating very quickly and still looking attractive was tough one, but he thought he had it down pretty well. Right now, however; he wasn't so sure. 

This was one of his favorite restaurants in Russia, and even though communists weren't really supposed to support owning you're own business, Patryck was quite close to the people who ran the restaurant too. 

Now that he was thinking about it, that was probably how Pau had gotten them a reservation here because they were usually always packed. Or maybe Pau had planned that far ahead and reserved them a table a week in advance, but that would be sixty-three dollars for not even knowing if Patryck would agree to go with him.

He didn't want to ask, it was better to be kept ambiguous so that Patryck could think about it later and make his own answer. 

Patryck lifted his glass of water (he always got water, no matter where they were eating), and took a small sip, one far too small to actually hydrate him. He almost forgot how to set his glass back down. 

Why was he so nervous?

"You know, if you aren't into this we can leave early and-"

"No." Patryck stopped him quickly, lifting his hand up to accent it. "I like this, I just... it's been awhile since I've done anything like this, and I'm a little anxious. That's all."

Pau smiled at him. Since they had gotten here some fourteen minutes ago, Pau had been the one keeping up conversation. He was good at it, but it left Patryck feeling overwhelmed by the fact that he couldn't talk to his best friend because they were on a 'date.' It didn't even change their status, it just meant that maybe Pau would like Patryck enough to call him his romantic partner. 

Never mind, that was stressful. Patryck figured he would just spend the last of his remaining years alone, though he was only twenty-two. Finding a man who would love him as the anxious, over dramatic, communist he was seemed near impossible.

And yet here he was.

"Recent scientific studies show that people on a first date should share embarrassing stories and tell the other person their flaws rather than all the reasons they should be together and all of the boring small talk," Pau said, resting his arms over the table in a casual manner. "So have I ever told you about my informative essay on prostitution?"

"The one where the professor told you to fix your bulge?" Patryck asked, adjusting his hair as he took another sip of water.

Pau laughed, leaning forward to sit on the edge of his seat. "No, that was the one on medical marijuana. This one, I was, what, a junior? So I was supposed to memorize a speech and present it, right?" Patryck nodded. "Well, I was only about halfway done with the introduction; the hook, the thesis, that kind of thing. And I just completely forgot what I was talking about. So I think: just talk about the holocaust."

"Wait, why would the holocaust be the first thing you start talking about when you forget a speech on prostitution?" 

"Well," Pau started. "You can't argue the holocaust. So, I introduce prostitution, then say 'the holocaust was a terrible tragedy, and there is nothing you can do to change my mind.'"

Patryck smiled. "Did you ever get back on track?"

"Nope. My professor told me I was very 'courageous.'" Pau put his fingers up in quotes. "You're turn."

"When I was younger I used to perform Beyoncé to my dogs."

"Heard it."

"I stole a piece of chocolate from a store counter when I was seven and the police got called."

"Already told me." Leaning back in his chair, Pau crossed his arms with a prideful look on his face. "What's something you haven't ever told anyone?"

"Hm." What had Patryck not told someone? More importantly, what had he not told Pau? It took a good twenty-three seconds of thought for Patryck to come up with something, something so embarrassing he had never planned on telling anyone. He supposed he was jut gonna go for it. He finally broke the silence with, "Don't laugh at me."

"Okay." And Pau leaned forward once more, seemingly enticed in hearing what Patryck had to say. 

"Are you ready? I was planning on taking this to my grave, so you better be ready." The other man nodded, a grin settling in his face. "A few years back, for only about two months..." He waited to make his next statement more dramatic. "I thought I had a crush on Tord."

Just then, Pau doubled-over himself, heaving out a snorty laugh while he clutched onto his stomach. 

"Hey, you said you weren't going to laugh!" Patryck joked, pointing a finger accusingly across the table. 

"No, no, it's just... what? How?" Pau breathes in slow, attempting to calm down his previous outburst. He waved a hand in the air as a gesture, and let it rest on the table after. "How come I never knew about this?"

"I don't know, I liked his accent and I respond to power, Pau." He feigned a glare, then smiled, enjoying the humor in Pau's eyes. He thought that maybe he had done something correct.

Pau pressed his hands harshly against the table, dramatically responding to Patryck's sense of humor. "We are in Russia, so many men have a similar accent." Then he paused, the corners of his mouth slightly turning up, but he was obviously trying not to. He was attempting to act distressed and offended. "Do I need to have an accent? Is that what this is?” He pushed himself back in his chair, lifting his arms into the air. "I can have an accent if that's what it takes."

"What? No." And yet Patryck felt his face heat up. He released a nervous laugh and rested his hand on his chin. He had almost forgotten they were on a date, and Patryck was being judged this very moment on if Pau was actually interested in him. "So, um, speaking of which. Are you, like, bi?"

That sure was a change in topic. "Uh, I mean, I guess if you want to put labels on it. I had never really looked at another man this way until, well, I'm not allowed to disclose that." There was a few seconds of Patryck receiving an intense stare from the elder of the two up until he began speaking again. "But it was you, and no other person after that."

Patryck felt his face heat up a-fucking-gain. How the fuck? "Stoooop."

"Alright, that's not first date conversation anyways. You know what is-?" Patryck lowered his voice to a comedic level. "Tell me all of your flaws."

"Pff, Okay." This was an easy one. "The only thing wrong with me is my lack of confidence. My inferiority, and my lack of confidence. My clumsiness, my inferiority, and my lack of confidence. My-"

"No, I mean real things. Clumsiness is charming, everyone has inferiority, and if you're confidence still hasn't gone up after being on Prozac this long, you might want to consider switching antidepressants." He gave Patryck a knowing look.

"Sorry, I'm just used to self-deprecating humor. I don't think I can tell you a flaw that you don't already know." He scratched back of his neck. "How about you go first."

"Alright, easy." Pau raised a finger. "I still don't know how to play chess."

"Well, I mean. A lot of people don't know how to play chess." Patryck offered, gesturing mindlessly at the table.

"I suppose."

And that's what they did. For until 6:32, they sat at the table, each saying something they thought was bad about them self, and the other debunking it without a second thought. It was quite a bonding experience.

Up until both of their phones went off at the same time commanding they return to base as quickly as possible and that their was news regarding each of their positions. So, they rolled in at about 6:44, where they discovered that guards were waiting by the entrance for them. That wasn't a thing that happened unless you had done something bad. In fact, the last time that someone had gotten ushered in with guards had a death sentence, so...

They watched as the two guards opened the front gates for them to enter, and followed behind them as they made their way into the building. Even unarmed, being followed around by them put the two on edge very quickly.

No one was in the main parts of the building, leading Patryck to assume that they had all retreated to the corridors by now. It seemed a little bit early for that, but it wasn’t his main concern at this point. The room that they needed to go to was on the second floor.

So, they made their way up the steps, and took a left turn. Pau opened the first door, and let Patryck walk in first before shutting it behind them. The guards remained outside of the room. Inside was Bones, who had been Tord’s second in demand, and Leighton on the left of him. On his right was Linda. She worked with Pau on legal things. 

Pau spoke first, standing up straight as he addressed their newest leader. “Sir,” he tilted his head down as a greeting. “We received your alert.”

“Yep.” He easily confirmed, leaning back in his seat. “I’m sure you two know what you’re here for?” 

“Nope.” Patryck simply stated. He didn’t have it in him to fake respect for him like Pau did. Bones was just a shitty person who let power go to far to his head, even though he did not deserve it. Patryck had no idea why Bones was Tord’s second in command when Pau was here. It was mildly upsetting when he thought about it.

“I have been informed by a source who would like to remain anonymous that the two of you have been using our very limited healthcare supplies on the delinquent downstairs, the one in solitary.” He said this calmly, glowering his eyes at Patryck specifically. 

Patryck felt a wave of fear rush over him as soon as the sentence left the man’s mouth. Should he admit to it? What would happen to them? Who called them out on it? It was probably fucking Greg. Greg Carlsburg is just the worst.

“Uh,” he could see the internal struggle in Pau’s eyes as he was figuring what to say. His arms were locked behind his back as he said, “That is correct.”

“And why?”

“Sir, if he didn’t get medical attention he would have died from infection spreading throughout his chest. It was absolutely necessary that we-“ Patryck began, but was cut off.

“Absolutely necessary that you waste our perfectly good medical supplies on a man who is already on death row?”

“...” The two remained quiet, unknowing to how they should respond.

“And that is why I am forced to have to let you go.”

“Wait, what?” Patryck’s voice was raised a bit higher than before, a certain surge of anger washing over him. “You can’t do that, there has to be a certain amount of wrong-doings before you can give us an Other-Than-Honorable discharge.”

“No, and you two will be receiving a dishonorable discharge for your crimes.”

“Still, there has to so many things that we’ve done wrong for you to-“

“Linda.” He stated her name and she handed him legal papers, offering the two a sad, apologetic look. He flipped over a few of the pages before finding what he was looking for. “Patryck; you have crashed two planes in the past three months. Pau, you haven’t been doing your work in the kitchen.” Patryck understood his, but what fuck did the kitchen have to do with what Pau did? He didn’t work in the kitchen. “And the two of you were supposed to be back in two weeks in your search for Tord. You’re lucky I’m only discharging you and not filing you for desertion.”

Pau spoke this time, his voice stern and upset. “I don’t work in the kitchen-“

“You were supposed to cover for Kevin twice while he was in the hospital.” They didn’t have a hospital, that’s just what they called it. It was more like a school’s nurse’s office.

“Okay, well, how were we supposed to know Tord was going to be so hard to find? This is fucking bullshit and I’m almost 100% certain you are not allowed to do this!”

Patryck lightly flinched at Pau’s tone. He shouldn’t be talking to him like that, it was probably jut going to make things worse. “Pau, calm down.” He said this quietly, looking at him from the corner of his eye. 

“What? No! I’m fucking upset, there is no way that this is legal!” He stepped forward, pointing a finger accusingly at the man who was supposed to be his leader. “You’re just doing this because we worked closest to Tord and you don’t like him because he actually gave a fuck about the condition of this place!”

“You have until tomorrow to get your things packed and out of here.” He clapped his hands together. “Alright, get them out of here.”

The door opened from behind them as the guards from before grabbed ahold of them, as if they were threats. “Wait, hold the fuck up-!” But they were already out of the door before Pau could finish sentence. He slammed his fist against the door, still yelling until Patryck grabbed his elbow and pulled him away from the door. “What are you doing?”

“You know what we have to, right?”

“Overthrow our leaders and take over the whole operation ourselves?”

“Close.” Patryck sighed, staring intensely at Pau. “We have to save Tord.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi friends! Sorry this took forever, I’ve been rehearsing nonstop for the production “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown” And it’s been a huge time consumer. 
> 
> Also GUYS THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE FANART OF THIS! I looked up the hashtag not long ago on insta and there is actually a lot more than I expected, so thank you so much and go check it out and support some of the people if you would like to see beautiful art for something you read.
> 
> AND on a similar note, I made a tumblr where I draw things that you see in the story and/or other dumb eddsworld shit. It’s @cannedcola
> 
> Thank you!


	26. This is the Bridge (Where We Globalize Everything)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom finds himself at a new low and some unexpected guests arrive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Congratulations if you like musicals and understood the chapter title!
> 
> So, I tried doing some strange brain internalization and it felt pretty risky, but I think I’m actually happy with how it turned out. Hope you enjoy this chapter!
> 
> The Weather- Christine F. By Surf Curse

“Tom, it’s one in the morning…” Edd said this, his eyes sadly looking over Tom, who was holding the phone up to his ear for the third time in the past half hour. “Let’s all get some rest and regroup tomorrow, yeah?”

Tom sighed heavily, letting his hand that had been holding the phone up to his ear drop, his shoulders sinking to a level of self-recognized failure. Ever since (technically) yesterday, at about seven, Tom had been trying so goddamn hard to get ahold of Pau and Patryck to absolutely no avail. It was an excruciating experience. If he could get them to answer the phone, he could get Yuu’s cell phone number and let him know what was happening. 

Yuu could speak Norwegian, as proved when he made strange faces at Tord when he would refer to Tom as something in his native language, so he could easily translate all of Tord’s blueprints and guidelines for the contraptions he had made. 

He had Matt try to put some of it into Google Translate while he kept trying to call them and Edd was still going through some of the stuff in the secret room, but it didn’t make enough sense for Tom to actually put it together right. He assumed Tord must have been using strange wording on purpose for this reason exactly.

Tom met Edd’s eyes, finally looking up from the floor he had been so enticed in just moments before. “I can’t fucking sleep, Edd.” The words weren’t angry, they were hurt, desperate. As far as Tom was concerned, he only had another day to save Tord and he still wasn’t sure where he was. The reality of his negligence was beginning to really daunt on him, leaving the disgusting feeling of being truely docile in place of where hope once was.

Edd stood in front of him, a guilty expression on his features as he broke his vision from Tom. His hair hung slightly over his eyes while he locked eyes with Matt, who was sitting on Tom’s bed as he looked through more folders and papers like he had been asked to do. 

Matt had been awfully compliant with Tom ever since he had learned what Tom and Tord were to each other, and Tom was grateful for it. He was somehow easily understanding how Tom was feeling and was doing his best to help him through it, even when he thought Tom might be losing his mind. 

He helped Edd come up with excuses for Tom’s off behavior by constantly reminding him what exactly Tom had been through in such a short amount of time because, even though he did not like his impression of Tord (really since the most recent events was all he could remember), he thought it was important to support Tom. 

So when Edd looked over to him as an excuse to leave the situation they were part of in the name of rest, Matt declined. 

“Well,” Edd looked back up at Tom. “Matt is looking pretty tired, and you know how he is about his beauty sleep.” He offered with a small gesture towards the ginger. 

Matt looked up from the papers he couldn’t read, looking between the two. “I’m alright.” 

Tom furrowed a brow, then waved a hand in the air dismissively. “No, no, you’re right. You two go ahead and sleep, I’m going to stay up a bit longer and…” he looked around the room, then to the wall of torn anime posters, and down to Tord’s bed, then finally settling on the sleeves of the old, black hoodie he was wearing. What was he going to do? “And… yeah.” He left the sentence unfinished. 

Edd lifted his hand up, scratching at the back of his neck. “Well… and what Tom?”

“Um…” he really hadn’t thought Edd would pry for a conclusion on that. “Figure some stuff out, maybe try calling a few more times, keep… ‘reading’ through those folders. That kind of stuff.” 

“Listen…” Edd began, lifting his eyes to Tom’s. “I don’t want to come off the wrong way, and I really hope this is taken in the manner it’s intended, but… What exactly are you planning on getting from this, Tom?” 

Tom appeared taken aback by the question, but he quickly regained his composure (not that he had any to begin with) and took no notice in Matt slightly glaring at Edd for having asked such a question. “I guess to understand all of this and save him.” He didn’t want to hesitate when he said it, he wanted to sound confident he could still do it, even with just forty hours left, if only for his own sake.

Edd, too, ignored the way Matt was giving him a warning look and continued. He was tired, and people were unconsciously more open when they were tired. That’s what he would use as an excuse, anyway. “How are you planning to do that?” He had a questionable tone, one that was making Tom uncomfortable.

“I’m not sure, Edd, that’s why…” he paused, sort of buffering, trying to remember the point in all of this and what his big plan was. After all, it was late, and he had gotten the least amount of sleep the night before out of everyone. “That’s why I have to call Pau and Patryck!” His voice was loud, sort of a ‘eureka’ moment. “I call them, get Yuu on the phone, and he can tell me what all of this means- and then we can use the robot Tord made to either…” His expression faded. “Well,l I haven’t exactly thought that far yet. Maybe trade it? Or… It is a war machine, we could do a lot with it.”

Edd stepped closer to him, resting a hand on his shoulder. “Tom, I know that this must be so… painful for you, and it is for us too. I mean, I don’t like to think about Tord-… I don’t like thinking about what is about to happen to him, but…” Edd knew he should think about his words carefully. “It’s for the best?” He didn’t sound very sure. 

He received disapproving looks from both parties in the room.

“I just think that maybe, if he is seriously that dangerous, and if he actually created everything in that room,” he gestured at the wall of torn anime posters. “Then it might be best that he isn’t around. I know that sounds horrible, but it’s true… he doesn’t care about us, Tom.”

“That’s not true and you know it.” Tom’s voice was suddenly harsh and judging, taking Edd by a surprise he felt shouldn’t be there. 

“It’s true! For us at least! He doesn’t care what happens to Matt and I, and for all we know he only played it off like he loves you so that you would get him out of there!”

“Edd!” Matt scolded him from across the room, like Edd would usually do to him. Tom only stood, angry and somewhat dumbfounded by what Edd was saying.

“Think about it, Tom! If you actually somehow managed to save him, do you really think you two would be able to have a non-toxic, stable relationship?” He dramatically swung his arm through the air as he continued. “There are so many things broken in this house because of the two of you fighting just the one week he came back, and I think that what happened is that you’ve tricked yourself into thinking that you two are in love because he was the only other person with you.”

“Edd-“ Matt attempted to interject.

“Fuck no!” Tom stepped forward and pointed a finger straight at Edd’s face. “You weren’t fucking there! You have no fucking right to tell me what was going on!” He flipped his hand to jab a thumb into his own chest. “He told me he loved me!”

Throwing his arms down, Edd stomped forward. “Goddamn it, Tom, I just want things back to the way they were!”

Tom stared, eyes wide and angry as Matt finally stood, rushing to push his arm between Tom and Edd before things could get worse. He spoke low, facing Edd with an angry expression he didn’t use often. “Hey, stop it! You know I hate raising my voice!”

The room was still a solid four seconds until Edd heavily exhaled out of his nose, his eyes closed as a calm-down tactic before lifting his head up to the ceiling. He turned on his heel, refusing eye contact with either people in the room as he approached the door. “I’m going to go to bed…” He turned the knob of the door handle, mumbling a sloppy sorry before exiting the room, the door left open behind him.

Tom’s shoulders sank once again, his eyes trained on the empty space where his friend once stood. He only looked away from it once he felt a hand on his shoulder, causing him to look up at the ginger it belonged to. There was an apologetic look in his eyes before he offered a sad smile, then followed after Edd, leaving Tom alone in the suddenly very empty bedroom he had once called his.

He waited until he heard a door shut in the distance before stepping out of the room himself, making his way into the kitchen to open the fridge. He wasn’t hungry or anything, but he used to have alcohol hidden in the back that he was curious as to if it was still there. He leaned down, pushing away items he felt were useless, like food and cans of cola to find that there was one (1) bottle of Smirnoff left. That wasn’t going to do much for him, but he figured it was probably for the best. 

He reached his arm in and gripped the bottle firmly in his hand, easily removing the cap with his other, and took a large gulp. 

It made him feel like the embodiment of shit, the way it burned down his throat. It had been awhile since he had drank because of Tord cutting him off from alcohol after the first time they slept together. 

He never actually quite said it, but Tom was mentioning how they should get more and Tord had quietly responded “Or maybe not.” And Tom didn’t press any further so he wouldn’t have to converse about anything uncomfortable, because at that time Tord was still set on them talking about it being the best course of action while Tom was set on ignoring it ever happened. Tord won, of course.

For a moment Tom wondered what exactly had gone through his mind when he kissed him the first time. He had just been so enticed with the conversation and the moment and the situation and well… with Tord. He was sober when it had begun, too. He had been drunk the night before and gotten a little too close to Tord for either of their comfort, touching on him and speaking close to his ear. And he knew what he was doing, but not really comprehending it.

Then Tord had saved his goddamn life by shooting a man in his head a few times more than necessary and they spent the night in their car.

He was sober then, with bruises in shapes of fingerprints imprinted on his neck while Tord repeatedly turned the heat on and off. Tom offered to drive to a gas station and refill the tank while Tord slept since he had barely slept at all and Tom felt like he owed him. 

Tord had just rolled onto his back and looked at Tom, his eyes soft and voice sarcastic as he asked, “Didn’t you just almost die or something?” And proceeded to tell him that it was important that Tom slept after such an experience. 

Looking back, Tom thought maybe he had fallen in love with him right there. 

There was an appreciation he had in the tone of Tord’s voice, the concern for Tom’s wellbeing and how he reluctantly sat up once more to keep the heat on due to Tom’s prior complaints so that he could rest, even if it kept the Norsk up with worry of running out of gas or the car dying altogether. 

Then Tom woke up with Tord running his fingers through his hair and it grimly exceeded being too comfortable, but they both let it continue, consciously between them.

Tom lifted his arm up to wipe the tears welling up in the corner of his eyes. He sniffed harshly in the air and took another drink, moving himself to sit down at the table, the spot he was sitting at the night before they had left.

He stared across the table, his vision trained on the seat where Tord was that night, sitting there waiting for his cup of coffee while he asked Tom what exactly his plan was. When Tom squinted, he could almost see him there, a disapproving look over his features as he stared back at Tom. There was a small ‘bing’ that resounded through the air before the Norsk stood to retrieve his cup of coffee, then turned to the direction of their room, Tom’s eyes following him all the while. 

Tord stopped in his pace, his expression softening as he looked back at Tom. He shrugged his shoulders up suggestively, nodding his head towards their room as an invitation to join him. Tom only stared at the figure, the bottle hanging loosely from his hand as Tord nodded to himself and continued on his way once more before stopping again.

“Tom?”

Tom didn’t answer, knowing there would be no point in responding to a figment of his depressive imagination. 

“When you do leave, I want to come with you.” He had been so confused when Tord had first said that to him. He just didn’t understand the point in the phrase or why he would ever want to do such a thing. He knew so much now, and that only made it more painful. “We could leave tomorrow, if you wanted.” 

He looked back down to the table, silently nodding to himself as some form of response. He wished so badly that he could go back and redo everything. He tried, but he couldn’t keep himself from answering the man. “...Alright.” He spoke quietly, then lifted his head back to see that he was gone once again. 

Another lengthy drink was taken before Tom crossed his arms over the table and put his head down on the cool surface. He clenched his jaw, allowing the water to flow freely down his face as his breath became ragged and broken. 

“Fuck.” The word was followed by other incoherent mumbles, dissipating into ultimately nothing as they hit the cool air of the kitchen. He lifted his head up in his hands, lightly pulling at the roots of his hair as he left the bottle to sit in the middle of the table. His face was beet red and wet from tears, his eyes peering across the table at a person who just wasn’t there, going through the same routine he had witnessed only moments ago. 

The person looked at him disapprovingly. "Where did you think you were gonna go? Did you think there was going to be a magical pony waiting to carry you off to Neverland?"

Tom ignored what the man was saying, leaning across the table to speak. “Why couldn’t you have just fucking told me what was happening?” He strained his voice to even get the words out. “We could have done something about it before it was too late.” He made sure his voice was low, trying hard to understand that technically he wasn’t talking to anyone.

Tord looked away, crossing his arms over the table. “Doesn’t matter.”

There was a ‘bing’ again that Tom ignored, watching in distress as Tord stood to receive his coffee. “But it does. It matters so fucking much because now you’re going to die and I can’t fucking do anything about it.” He dropped his hands back onto the table, eyes following as Tord began walking away again. 

He looked back at Tom, shrugging his shoulders and leaning his head towards their room carelessly, as if what Tom was saying was foolish.

“We got so far and now all of that is gone because we were too fucking stupid to actually talk to each other.” He lifted his arm up to soak the tears off his face, then proceeding to pull out his hair in distress. “God, I was so fucking stupid.” That was mostly to him than the imaginary Tord, looking back at him for the second time this run through.

“Tom?” 

Despite every horrible feeling inside his chest, Tom looked over at Tord. The man’s eyes were sad, he was sort of slouching, and his hair was a wreck. For a moment, it looked like he was going to say something else. Tom kept his gaze on him, waiting for what he was going to say like he had never heard it before. “What?”

“...When you do leave, I want to come with you.”

Tom turned away from him, hanging his head down and grabbing the bottle back from the center of the table. “Goddamnit.”

“We could leave tomorrow, if you wanted.” 

“Tomorrow.” He repeated, turning his back once more, but he was gone yet another time. “Alright…” He whispered sadly, his voice feeling to heavy to raise, then pressing the bottle against his lips and drinking all the liquid he could until it was gone. He let the empty bottle sit beside his head as he buried his face back into crossed arms. 

Tomorrow everything was going to be gone. Edd was right. He was stupid for thinking he could possibly save Tord. Everything wasted; nothing to say. At least, that’s what he thought the phrase was. 

He couldn’t help but think how disappointed Tord would be if he saw him right now.

—————

“Tom?” 

Said man stirred slightly in his sleep, shaking the hand poking at his shoulder off of him.

“Tom!”

He jerked his head up, a bottle next to him rolling off the table and to the ground, but luckily not breaking. The loud noise caused him to jump again, harsher this time, with a force that pushed his chair back all before he could even open his eyes.

“What-? What the fuck?” He shut his eyes again immediately because for some reason the lights were on. He brought both fists up his face to rub the sleep out of his eyes before blinking until he could see clearly. 

The light on the ceiling fan was the only one on, and beyond the kitchen was only dimly lit by the same source. He didn’t bother taking in much, instead looking outside of the window in a search for time. It was still dark out, or maybe it was dark out again. If it was the second one, Tom was going to cry until he threw up. If it was the first one, well… who the fuck wakes up this early? 

He looked up to see Edd, who didn’t look very well. He had dark circles under his eyes from lack of sleep, and his voice sounded dead. Despite that; he looked relieved. Rather excited, even. “There are people here to see you.”

“What?” Who the fuck was here to see him at this fucking hour? Let alone at all?

Edd only turned, gesturing for Tom to follow him, which he did. He stood rather quickly, stumbling at first and gripping his head. It wasn’t like he had a massive hangover or anything, but the room was spinning a little bit. 

He turned with Edd, noticing immediately that there were three people sitting on the couch from above the room divider. He followed Edd further, finally entering into the room to see Pau and Patryck sitting on the sofa next to a very sleepy Matt. 

His eyes widened at first, then squinted, as if what he was seeing was another figment of his imagination. The two stood upon this, back straight and shoulders back in proper military fashion, although they didn’t look like they from any place like that. 

They looked very casual, and very tired. They were both now in normal hoodies and jeans, Pau’s a light pink and Patryck’s a light yellow. They both had faded bags under their eyes, Pau’s a lot heavier than Patryck’s, that looked more from stress than anything else. Despite this, they looked quite awake and aware.

Tom didn’t really know what to say. He looked between everyone in the room. Matt, still sleepy as all hell, was smiling at him, and Edd was practically beaming beside him. Pau and Patryck were a lot more business looking, serious expressions on their faces as Tom spoke. “Uh-... what’s going on?”

Edd answered for the two men. “They came here to help us save Tord.”

…

“What.” It was more said that asked as Patryck stepped forward to him.

The man handed him two stapled documents. “These papers are legal evidence that both Pau and I have officially been discharged, and because we care about Tord and now have absolutely no obligation to see his death through, we want to help you save him.”

Tom looked down at the papers, not reading through them, but just looking. He even flipped a page. He then brought his focus back to Matt, who was smiling even bigger, and next to Edd. “You guys want to help too?” 

He nodded, excitedly reaching back for the papers to read out to Tom. “See here? They’ve been dishonorably discharged-“

“Ugh- please don’t say that aloud.” Pau groaned, lifting his head to look at the ceiling while Pau patted his shoulder for comfort. 

“Sorry,” he replied. “But, uh, that means that they can help us. I mean, they know where he is. They know the place, the people. We can really get a lot farther doing this with them helping us.”

“That’s why we couldn’t answer the phone, no signal up there.” Patryck pointed towards the ceiling.

“You flew here?” Tom asked, eyes widening. “That would make shit a whole lot easier.” 

“Oh, well, yeah but…” he trailed off, scratching the back of his neck.

“But what?” Edd asked, his voice dropping to a more neutral level.

Pau answered, finally looking away from the ceiling as he smiled stupidly. “But he crashed it on the way here.” Patryck breathed out a heavy sigh as Pau lightly laughed, most of the noise coming out of his nose because he was really trying not to.

Immediately, Patryck turned towards him, pointing a finger in his face. He spoke harsh under his breath. “Well, if you would stop yelling out random things while I am trying to fly a plane, maybe we would have gotten here sooner.” 

“The point is,” Pau stepped forward, waving both hands to his side dismissively. “We are going to make sure Tord doesn’t get the firing squad, and right now it’s only 5:24am, so we better get moving. Russia is a long ways away. Especially without a plane.”

“Uh- I have folders?” That sounded stupid, but Tom was still very surprised, tired, and barely still under the influence of alcohol.

Edd reiterated for Tom, gesturing his hand outward. “We found a secret room with a bunch of stuff in it, and there are also folders in Norwegian explaining the stuff in it. Tom thinks that we could use the giant robot we found to get there, but we can’t read Norwegian.”

“Giant robot?” Pau asked. “I figured he was just lying about that at this point.” Tom watched as he reached into his pocket. “Do you mind if I smoke in here?”

“Yeah.” Tom had looked back at Edd for his answer, but when he turned back to Pau he already had a cigarette hanging out of his mouth and a lighter held up to it. 

“Oh.”

“Yeah, none of that stuff ever since Tord almost burned the house down. 

He flipped it shut and pushed it back into his pocket like had been let down. “Well, then, I’m going to be in and out of here quite often.” He sighed, glancing around the room a little bit.

“So, where are those folders at?” Patryck asked, looking between the three housemates. 

“Oh, um,” Tom started, his voice trailing off as he looked past them and into the hall his room was in. “Uh, this way.” Then he walked past him, still feeling incredibly disoriented by all of what was happening. 

He had just fucking woken up from, well, he wasn’t sure what after another odd experience he wanted to ponder over a little more. He wasn’t complaining though, because four hours ago Tom was certain that he was just going to have to live the rest of his life without Tord in it, and if he was being honest it really wouldn’t be a very long rest of his life after that. Now, there was two very well experienced men who were close to Tord offering to help him.

He started down the hallway, his pace quick and albeit a little shaken. He turned at his door, the area already open from the hall and entered with Pau, Matt, and Edd. Patryck dragged behind a little because he stopped to pull the lever to the room, causing the house to lightly shake before entering behind them. 

Tom made his way to his bed, where papers were scattered from earlier when Matt was still going through them. He shuffled them together and proceeded to hand them to Patryck, who already had his arm outstretched for them. He grasped them, then walked into the lab with a rather fast pace, opening the folders and settling the papers on the floor of the first ledge. 

The rest followed, Pau more curiously than the others. He was surveying the entire room, his eyes locking on random things as he would make a face of concentration. That was until he saw the photos of him, Patryck, Yuu and Tord.

Tom turned to his friends, a look on his face that showed he was a bit distant from the reality taking place around him. Edd, with dark circles settling under his eyes, lightly smiled at him and Matt seemed quite content in what was happening. “...Did you two do this?”

Edd shrugged one of his shoulders, glancing slightly to the side. “I went back to check on you in your room, but you passed out on the kitchen table, so I got the phone and turned the volume up all the way so that if they called, I’d wake up.” He grinned. “And they called after they landed, said they were in Britain and needed our address. Matt fell asleep in my room waiting for them to call.” He paused. “Also, turns out they aren’t real police officers and are part of Tord’s communist army, so…? That also happened.”

“So, what we were thinking was…” Pau started, interrupting their conversation and taking a few steps to the left, pushing past Patryck to get to a drawer. He had to stretch himself a bit, but he eventually got it open, then reaching inside of it and grabbing a few things out. He brought them close to his face, then picked out a red sharpie and a pencil, the pencil he handed to Patryck. “Tom, you know Yuu.”

He walked back to the pictures, pointing up at the one of Yuu. Tom nodded.

“He is probably our best bet on getting Tord out of there.”

“Why is that?” Tom asked because, even though he thought so with his plan, it didn’t seem necessary if both Pau and Patryck were already here. 

“Because,” he opened the cap of the sharpie, bringing it up to his own picture and marking a big ‘X’ through it before doing the same to Patryck’s. “He is the only one who has gotten out of there without properly being discharged.”

Tom furrowed his brow, squinting up at the photos. “But he was discharged.”

Pau gave him a strange look. “Is that what he told you?”

Edd and Matt both turned their attention to Tom, confused expressions on their faces. “Yeah, he told me that he had gotten shot and he was discharged.”

“He was lying.” Tom gave a confused look. “He did get shot, but not bad enough to be discharged completely.”

“Wait, so what happened?” His friends were staying on the quiet side, attention on whatever Patryck was writing.

Patryck stood from scribbling on the papers, making his way to walk over and observe the giant, red button Matt had so stupidly pushed not long ago. He wasn’t really paying attention to things as he spoke. “We used to make trips here a lot, right?”

Tom only nodded because really, why would he know that?

“We would come here because,” he made his way back to the ledge. “Tord had never really left this place, like, emotionally. He was always concerned that one of you were going to do something stupid that would keep him from success where we were. So he had us keep tabs on you, hence,” he pointed up at the map Edd had been so concerned about that contained photos of them at different places. “That. He never really felt safe without knowing what was happening here.”

Edd nodded, a disturbed but understanding nod coming from him while the three listened. 

“That’s not the point, though. The point is that after coming back here so often and staying at the same hotels and such, Yuu had met someone. Her name was…” he paused, looking up from the papers. “What the fuck was her name?”

“Sharon?” Pau asked, opening the door to a locker looking thing and pulling out a tool box of sorts. “Wait, no, Shelby.”

“Her name was probably Shelby. She was really nice, she let us have tea for half price a few times.” He began writing again, his words slowing down from his thoughts being slightly mangled from double tasking. “Yuu thought that he had fallen in love with her after about three months of knowing her, told her, and she said that she felt the same way. So. Yuu came up with a plan to leave so they could be together.”

At this point all they could really do was nod.

“So, he gets shot, not intentional but he gets shot. Instead of going to the hospital, he comes to me and has me treat the wound and goes to Pau so that he can file him as deceased. So basically, he faked his own death, fled to Britain, found a home and began to start living off grid with Shelby.”

“Wait, but she wasn’t there when Tord and I were.” Tom furrowed his brows.

“Well,” Patryck continued. “She died about five months ago from lung cancer, even though she didn’t smoke, it was mostly from secondhand smoke as far as I’m aware.”

“Oh, that’s sad.” Matt stated, his shoulders slumping. “How long were they together?”

He sighed. “Three whole years.” 

Tom heard a sniff from beside him and turned to see that it was Edd, not looking like he was crying, but his face was slightly more red than usual and he was wiping his nose. Tom understood because, yeah. That sounded tragic. He thought that was probably why he had an entire house to himself was because he was planning on having a whole family, or that was the reason he looked so sad and dissociated unless he was directly speaking to someone.

“So we think that we could fake Tord’s death, keep him in the system as executed, and move back here to Britain and start a new life… or something like that.”

Pau walked over to Patryck, resting his hand on the man’s lower back while he looked over what he had been writing. “Let’s just hope Tom doesn’t die from lung cancer.”

Patryck looked up, unamused, his voice steady. “Let’s hope you don’t die from lung cancer.” 

“Okay.” He replied, awkwardly patting the man’s shoulder and walking away. “So Russia is a little over four hours away during flight.” He said, changing the subject as he approached the three. “Tord thinks that robot thing can do it in three.”

“That’s good right?” Edd asked, looking over at his two friends. 

“We are going to want to leave earlier just in case,” Patryck answered, standing up with the papers in his hand. “So we probably will just get there, go in, get him from his cell probably because we shouldn’t be able to get into the firing room, Pau will go to the filing room and make sure his death is put in and the rest of us…” he looked between the three men. “How are you with guns?”

“I don’t know.”  
“I’m good at arcades.”  
“I like to think pretty alright.”

“Alright, come here.” He turned to the right, opening a small compartment in the wall that blatantly said ‘NOT A GUN RACK’ and showed a small variety of guns. “Damn, all the good ones are gone… Well, choose one I guess.”

Edd stepped forward, grabbing an MP 40 and stepping back immediately, holding the weapon down to his side. Matt took a light machine gun, feeling the weight in his hands a moment before nodding to himself and backing away. Tom was left with the last gun, a simple Lugar pistol that he thought would hopefully be quite simple to use if the time came. 

Patryck nodded, pursing his lips and turning around to Pau. He mumbled a few things quietly to him, Pau shaking his head ‘no’ in response.

“So, should we make sure you know how to use the thing?” Edd questioned, tilting his head at Patryck.

The man looked back down at the papers, resting his hands on his hips. “I think we are going to have to wing it. I’m going to keep reading over it, but I don’t really know how to get in it besides pushing the button while standing on the right spot. Actually, everyone is going to have to stand there as far as I’m aware, but… I’m gonna keep reading.”

That didn’t sound very promising, but none of them were pilots or mechanics of any kind, so who were they to judge Patryck’s thinking?

“Pau is going to rent a car and pick up Yuu, then bring him back here, which is going to take… a lot of time and will probably be what takes the longest before we leave. So that is what he is going to do right now.” He looked over at Pau, who gave a thumbs up from behind him. “I’m going to stay with you three and finalize everything. Sound good?”

Nodding ensued once more, with Tom trying his best not to smile too widely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FAT shoutout to Johnathon, who reads this fic, recognized that I had been rehearsing for Charlie Brown (as said in last chapters notes), looked up the hashtag for this fic on insta, saw me comment as the author, and found out we go to the same school. That’s honestly so crazy, so hey what’s up John?
> 
> I’m very nervous for next chapter because a lot is going to go down and I’m just hoping I can write it correctly, so wish me some luck!
> 
> Since The End of the Fxxxing Eddsworld is coming to an end, it’s about time we make sure the tags are correct. So if there is a tag you think I forgot and need to add, or that I should take out, tell me why and let me know!
> 
> Please be patient with me as we wait for this next chapter.
> 
> PS, does anyone actually listen to the songs I put?

**Author's Note:**

> Leave a comment if ya feel like it. I like seeing them, and comments really make me want to update quicker.


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